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moodcrab · 2 years

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Fixing Skyrim's Civil War

The Holds need to feel like they're genuinely at war. In other words the difference between Stormcloak and Empire held territory should be acknowledged by the game.

The game's opening makes a big deal about border jumping, then it's never mentioned again. The difficulty of border crossing should depend on several factors. Traveling by main road in Skyrim is generally easier, but the borders should be way harder. We're talking "Papers Please" levels of security, with New Vegas style speech checks. Sure you can run or fight your way through, enjoy the bounty in ALL the holds on this side of the war though. Country trails and dirt paths will be less organised, more frontier justice style, a mid level crossing difficulty. You'll have to deal with outposts akin to the camps you see in vanilla. Crossing through the wilderness will see the least resistance, unless you run into a scout or ranger, but even then it's just your word (or sword) against theirs, one on one. Racial differences should also play a factor. So You're and Imperial or Altmer crossing into Stormcloak lands, yeah we're going to give you some obstacles at the border, sorry not sorry this is war. They may assume a Khajiit is part of a caravan or a Dunmer is a refugee, for instance.

Wearing your side's uniform behind enemy lines should be an attack on sight offense, even in cities. On the other hand, a disguise could be implemented, but race and reputation should factor into its effectiveness. Going "plain clothed" being the safest option for general travel, but this would restrict you from enemy camps and buildings.

Victory

So you've won the war for the Stormcloaks. What now? Does the Penitus Oculatus still operate from Dragonsbridge? Does the East Empire Company still trade from both Solitude and Windhelm? Does the Dark Brotherhood story, which is almost entirely dependent on the civil war being unresolved, not change one iota? Do the Thalmor still have an Embassy and a Prison in Skyrim? What about all the Thalmor agents wondering around arresting people, or the one at the College, are they still welcome? Do ALL the exiled Jarls just sit in a basement in the Blue Palace forever? In vanilla Skyrim the answer is inexplicably "Yes."

And that's just the problems with a Stormcloak victory.

Skyrim has a real issue with not allowing the consequences of your actions affect the rest of the game, but it's most shocking with the civil war. By winning the war for either side, you should be eliminating a lot of potential content, which Bethesda doesn't want you to miss.

To my mind their are several ways around this. Firstly, completely re-writing whole quest lines to accommodate either outcome, basically tripling the amount of scripted quests available, a neutral, Stormcloak and Imperial plotline. This is wholly impractical. Second, delay the players direct influence in the war until a certain point, be it a story point or a level cap, to limit potential conflicts with other plots. This would require restraint on Bethesda's part. Thirdly, interweave the civil war with every other faction and the main story, so instead of the player choosing a team and literally joining that army, they have many chances to influence the war's outcome one way or the other before they have to declare for one side or the other (again, like New Vegas).

Ideally though, it would be a combination of all three options. For example: instead of having two sides to join (and inevitably win the war for), you will have many opportunities during gameplay to nudge the war in favour of the Stormcloaks, the Empire, both, neither or towards yourself (Implementing a reputation system would help greatly with this). You may come out of the gate as a Empire supporter and go all in, or make decisions based on the situation at hand. This will be presented naturally as you do side quests, the main story and faction stories. Making an all out decision on who to actively fight for will come later. This gives you a more natural feel to the civil war and give you so much roleplaying scope. Do you as Harbinger or Archmage get your faction involved in the war? Do you betray the side you're on and seize power for yourself (as a Dragonborn is want to do)? Or, and this is the interesting bit, do you make too many bad decisions and end up losing the war?

Imagine that. The game actually allowing you to fail at something. What is the world like for you now, champion of the vanquished side? Does Skyrim become a punishing land, where guards are biased against you and traders inflate their prices, if they allow you trade at all? Do you accept defeat or begin a resistance movement? Bethesda gets so carried away with it's power fantasy that it restricts itself from some really interesting role playing possibilities.

#elder scrolls memes #skyrim #elder scrolls #skyrim memes #elder scrolls morrowind #truestl #morrowind #elder scrolls oc #oblivion #tes6 #skyrim civil war #civil war

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kny111 · 5 years

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As an instrument of oppression and control, modern police departments are deeply rooted in some of the most racist and repressive colonial institutions of the United States. Since the establishment of the first policing systems like the Night Watch, the Barbadian Slave Code, the urban Slave Patrols, to the “professional” police forces and other law enforcement agencies, every one of these organizations has had the task of surveilling and controlling the population while imposing and upholding colonial law mainly through the use of force and coercion.

US police force was modeled after the British Metropolitan Police structure ; however, the modus operandi –especially when policing poor working class, migrant, brown and black neighborhoods- in the present, resembles the procedures of the 18th century Southern slave patrols, which developed from colonial slave codes in slave-holding European settlements in the early 1600s.

Colonial Law Enforcement

Essentially every colony in the western hemisphere, be it French, Spanish, Portuguese or English, had difficulties when it came to controlling its slave population and designed similar systems to manage the problem.

As early as the 1530s, runaway Indigenous and African slaves already presented a problem for Spanish invaders in the regions now known as México, Cuba and Perú. Some of the first recognized precursors of slave patrols deployed in the 1530s were the volunteer militia Santa Hermandad or the Holly Brotherhood, which chased fugitives in Cuba. The Hermandad had been established in Spain in the 15th century to repress crime in rural areas and then transferred to the Spanish colonies. The Hermandad was later replaced by expert slave hunters known as rancheadores, who regularly employed brutal tactics. These slave catchers used ferocious dogs to capture escapees. In Perú, enslaved and free blacks “owned by the municipality of private individuals” aided the Spaniard Cuadrilleros in Lima in the apprehension of runaways starting around the 1540s.

Administrators of the Spanish and Portuguese empires passed laws to handle slave-related situations, including the capture and punishment of renegades. Eventually, every Caribbean island and mainland settlements created their own rules and regulations and used a combination of former slaves, paid slave catchers, and the militia as apprehenders, all of them forerunners of patrols.

By the 1640s, Barbados, an English colony, had put in place a formal military structure which included white males, obviously but also indentured servants and even free blacks whose primary functions were patrolling slaves and protecting the island of foreign attacks.

“Though there be no enemy abroad, the keeping of slaves in subjection must still be provided for.” - Barbados Governor Willoughby

Years later other English island and mainland colonies adopted the Barbadian slave code as model, including Jamaica in 1664, South Carolina approximately in 1670, and Antigua in 1702.

Slave patrols in the Southern Colonies

The slave patrols emerged from a combination of the Night Watch, used in Northern colonies, and the Barbadian Slave Code initially employed by Barbadians settlers in South Carolina in the early 1700s.

As Southern colonies developed an agricultural economic system, slave trade became indispensable to keep the economy running. African slaves soon outnumbered whites in some colonies and the fear of insurrections and riots led to the establishment of organized groups of vigilantes to keep them under control.

In The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America 1638 – 1870, W.E.B Du Bois quotes South Carolinian authorities: “The great number of negroes which of late have been imported into this Colony may endanger the safety thereof.” And “…the white persons do not proportionately multiply, by reason whereof, the safety of the said Province is greatly endangered.”

All white men aged six to sixty, were required to enlist and conduct armed patrols every night which consisted of: Searching slave residences, breaking up slave gatherings, and protecting communities by patrolling the roads. Historian Sally E. Hadden, notes:

“In the countryside, such patrols were to ‘visit every Plantation within their respective Districts once in every Month’ and whenever they thought it necessary, ‘to search and examine all Negro-Houses for offensive weapons and Ammunition.’ They were also authorized to enter any ‘disorderly tipling-House, or other Houses suspected of harboring, trafficking or dealing with Negroes’ and could inflict corporal punishment on any slave found to have left his owner's property without permission. ‘slave patrols’ had full power and authority to enter any plantation and break open Negro houses or other places when slaves were suspected of keeping arms; to punish runaways or slaves found outside their plantations without a pass; to whip any slave who should affront or abuse them in the execution of their duties; and to apprehend and take any slave suspected of stealing or other criminal offense, and bring him to the nearest magistrate.”

Free blacks and “suspicious” whites who associated with slaves were also supervised. Slaves lived in a state of trauma and paranoia due to the terror that these patrols instilled in them. Various former slaves from different colonies provide an account of their daily lives.

“[A runaway] was with another, who was thought well of by his master. The second of whom… killed several dogs and gave Messrs, Black and Motley (patrollers) a hard fight. After the Negro had been captured they killed him, cut him up and gave his remains to the dogs.” - Jacob Stroyer (Neal, 2009)

“Running away… the night being dark… among the slaveholders and the slave hunters… was like a person entering the wilderness among wolves and vipers, blindfolded.” - Henry Bibb (Neal, 2009)

Rather than punishing, the primary purpose of this racially focused law enforcement was to, “prevent mischief before it happened”. Racial profiling became the fundamental principle of policing and the definition of law enforcement came to be white –and whitewashed- patrolmen watching, detaining, arresting and beating up people of color.

In an effort to establish a consistent surveillance and identification system, the slave pass, one of the earliest forms of IDs, was created to prevent indentured Irish servants from fleeing their master’s property, to identify Native Americans entering white colonies to trade, and to limit mobility of black slaves, of course. Still, thousands of slaves and indentured servants managed to escape into Spanish Florida, the Appalachian Mountains and the big coastal towns where, “a fugitive could mix into the large populations of free blacks and skilled slaves... (surviving)… much like the undocumented immigrants of today, hated and hunted by white society but useful to small craftsmen and other employers who hired their labor at submarket wages.” (Parenti, 2003)

After the Civil War white slave owners realized that race as obvious criteria for conviction or punishment was no longer “legal” – in theory at least. Slave patrols were officially terminated at the end of the Civil War, but their functions were taken over by other Southern racist organizations. Their law-enforcement aspects; detaining “suspicious” persons, limiting movement, etcetera, became the duties of Southern police agencies, while their more violent and lawless aspects were taken up by militia groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

1800s; The Birth of the Modern Police Departments

Establishing the exact date to mark the beginning of modern policing in the United States is difficult, since the evolution of older systems like the Constables, Night Watches, and slave patrols into the “new police” was slow. However, we can take the mid-1800s as the years in which the present system of law enforcement dependent on a permanent agency with full-time paid officers was first conceived.

Among the first cities in the country to create such agencies were Boston in 1838, New York in 1845, Chicago in 1851 and St. Louis in 1855; and again, the motive behind the creation of these “peacekeeping” forces was the need to control the “unruly” classes as the emerging industrial economy and new Victorian standards of “morals” demanded it.

Starting in the early 1830s, a chain of riots triggered by race, religious and labor disputes, swept across various cities in the northern region of the country and authorities responded by assigning their Night Watch patrols the riot control function, but they soon learned that a volunteer watch system was ineffective. Day watches also proved to be useless. Full-time, police officers were needed.

“The process of capitalist industrialization led to increasing economic inequality and exploitation and class stratification. Rioting became an essential political strategy of an underclass (a surplus population) and a working class suffering this increasing economic deprivation. The modern system of policing evolved to control this riotous situation.” (Eitzen, Timmer 1985)

“New York City had so many racial disorders in 1834 that it was long remembered as the "year of the riots”. Boston suffered three major riots in the years 1834 to 1837, all of which focused on the issues of anti-abolitionism or anti- Catholicism. Philadelphia, the ‘City of Brotherly Love,’ experienced severe anti-Negro riots in 1838 and 1842; overall, the city had eleven major riots between 1834 and 1849. Baltimore experienced a total of nine riots, largely race-related, between 1834 and the creation of its new police in 1857. In a desperate attempt to cope with the social disorder brought about by this conflict, America's major cities resorted to the creation of police departments.“ (Williams, Murphy 1990)

The concept of a professional police force was copied from London’s Metropolitan Police Department which had been established in 1829. These “peace” agents were called Peelers or Bobbies after Sir Robert Peel, founder of the institution. The American version of these agents were known as coppers, because they wore copper stars as badges on their uniforms. They were available 24/7, carried guns and were “trained to think of themselves as better than the working class they were recruited from.”

In order for the police force to be effective, Peel believed it should work under his Principles of Law Enforcement which explicitly stated an ideology summarized in the following nine points:

The police exist to prevent crime and disorder.

Police must maintain public respect and approval in order to perform their duties.

Willing cooperation of the public to voluntarily observe laws must be secured.

Police use of force depends on the degree of cooperation of the public.

The police must be friendly to all members of society while enforcing the law in a non-biased manner.

Use of physical force should be used to the extent necessary to secure the compliance of the law.

Police are the public and public are the police.

Police should protect and uphold the law not the state.

Efficiency is measured by the absence of crime and disorder.

These principles seemed flawless in theory but in practice they would prove difficult to implement in the United States. Soon after their establishment, police agencies were taken over and driven by political forces. Politicians would hire, and appoint police employees and high ranking officers as they pleased resulting in corruption, nepotism and favoritism being common in police departments around the country. Years later, reformers would try to purge these and other dishonest manners from the police of the “political era”.

Being a British model, the new police had a strong Victorian influence which placed yet another burden on the back of those being monitored; namely, the working-class. Victorian morality dictated strict legal definitions of public order and behavior, especially for womyn who already had to cope with gender and class constraints.

“(W)omen were held to higher standards and subject to harsher treatment when they stepped outside the bounds of their role. Women were arrested less frequently than men, but were more likely to be jailed and served longer sentences than men convicted of the same crimes.”

"Fond paternalistic indulgence of women who conformed to domestic ideals was intimately connected with extreme condemnation of those who were outside the bonds of patronage and dependence on which the relations of men and women were based.” (Williams, 2007)

Despotic hierarchical power relations not only between womyn and men, but also between, lower classes and the state itself were further exacerbated by the introduction of this new policing force as “immoral” conduct, other working-class leisure-time activities and poverty were officially criminalized and more arrests were made based on discretion and initiative of government officers rather than in response to specific complaints.

By the early 1900s, the police was well established as the most notorious state authority figure. Government became omnipresent by means of a more sophisticated surveillance system -over extensive geographical areas- that included, motorized patrols, wanted posters, informants, lineups, detectives, and radios.

“The Reform Era”

The 1920s-1930s reformers’ attempt to remove political influence from police – and vice versa- gave way to a more “professional” police, but in principle it remained the same.

A soft approach for restructuring the institution was taken at first. This proposal estimated that police officers could turn into some sort of “social scientist” collaborating with social workers and teachers to understand what the roots of crime and social instability were. In the end, a more enforcement-like strategy, with a “scientific and technologically advanced methodology of social control” which included a “machine-gun” school of criminology and a stricter legalistic framework was developed. In 1934, FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, would attach the concept of war to policing when he declared the first “war against crime”.

“Hoover liked to compare law enforcement officers to the soldiers and sailors who protect the state in times of war. Law enforcement was an instrument of law against disorder, a strategic weapon of war to be used against an internal enemy that was to be eradicated as an enemy of state” (Barry, 2011)

This reform coincided with one of the hardest times for the working class in the country. For disenfranchised workers, strikes and riots –especially during and economic depression, became the way to express discontent not just over low wages and working conditions, but over a lack of economic and political power as well. This obviously meant a threat for corporate elitists and their governmental allies, who didn’t hesitate in sending their armies of police officers to break and repress sit-ins and rallies. Soon, the police were on the streets carrying out some of the bloodiest massacres of “enemies of the state” during the strike waves of the 1930s like: The Memorial Day Massacre in Chicago (1937), the Battle of the Running Bulls in Flint (1937), the Battle of the Overpass in Dearborn (1937), and Bloody Friday in Minneapolis (1934) to mention a few.

In the next decades, the police, FBI, DEA and other law enforcement agencies, would repress, infiltrate and destroy organizations like the Black Panthers Party, American Indian Movement, and the Weather Underground, which the state and the owning classes perceived as threats to the capitalist white supremacy.

Law Enforcement In The Present

Based on the experience attained dealing with Indigenous Nations, African slaves and other threats, the state has constantly updated and perfected its strategies. One practice remains untouched in today’s policing and law enforcing methods, though; the tradition of upholding the kind of laws that made possible slavery, racism, segregation and discrimination in the country.

In the 21st century, police attitude towards poor communities of color still resembles that of its precursors 300 years ago. If we substitute the words "slave patrols" for "police departments" and to the list of "Native Americans" and "slaves" we add "undocumented migrants", "Muslims", "political activists", etcetera, we’ll see that the narrative history of our peoples in the United States hasn’t changed much.

Analyzing police slogans like: “To Protect and to Serve” and “Committed to Excellence”, in a historical context, it becomes obvious that they’re not directed at the policed neighborhoods but at those in positions of power, since most of the time interactions and “dialogue” with working class, migrant, and communities of color in general, are reduced to what has legitimated the institution in the first place; abusive behavior and the monopoly of “legalized” violence.

In conclusion, a phrase by Williams Hubert and Patrick V. Murphy is enough to describe the history of law enforcement in the United States:

“Policing by the law for those unprotected by it”

#news #policing #policy #internet surveillance #surveillance state #police state #surveillance capitalism #capitalism #corruption #slave patrol #slave patroling #journalism #history #white history #transatlantic slave trade #slave trade #slavery

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improbablecarny · 5 years

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Okay so here’s my Netflix Witcher Season 2 Predictions & Speculations

Don’t place any bets on these these. I’m rambling and asking questions more than answering them. But that’s the fun part, anyway.

Putting these behind a cut because of spoiler potential and because I don’t want to subject your eyes to my rambling any more than necessary

What we know:

Season 2 will have a more linear timeline

Eight episodes, again

It will cover content from Blood of Elves, Time of Contempt, The Last Wish and maybe Sword of Destiny?

There are four major threads to the plot of the books, here.

Who is Rience? Who is he working for?

What is going on with the Brotherhood?

What's Nilfgaard up to and how are the other kingdoms feeling about that whole thing?

What is Ciri’s deal and how does she fit into all of the above?

What the S2 opener will be, I’m not sure, but I have two ideas, with caveats:

Yen saves Jaskier from Rience. It’s a strong scene and sets up a lot of the season’s intrigue right away - the issue is that it skips over the aftermath of Sodden Hill, and I feel like we’re going to spend a bit more time with Yen before she gets back to the point where she’s stabbing dudes and saving bards.

Geralt visits Codringher and Fenn. I know, that scene is jumping WAY ahead, and by this point in the books Geralt has already encountered Rience -- however, I think it may work to establish C&F earlier, and have Geralt immediately employing them to spread misinfo about Ciri’s “death”. I think we could still set up Rience a little here -- ask if the name means anything to him, it doesn’t, they don’t know much either but they’ve Heard Rumours, etc. Also honestly I just REALLY love the atmosphere of that scene and think it would be a very eye-catching, moody opener.

In fact, both of these could conceivably happen in the same episode. The tricky part for me is not knowing how much of a timeskip they’ll add between seasons and how they’re going to handle Yen’s reappearance. Is she going to wake up in an infirmary somewhere and get an immediate exposition dump from Tissaia? Is she going to spend some time wandering through an interdimensional hell zone? Are we going to see that all in the present or will it be done through flashback?

How Season 2 will end, though, I have a much better sense of: all four major plotlines converge when it’s revealed that Vilgefortz is pulling the strings and Aretuza goes bananas in a strikingly obvious Season Finale sort of way. We get a lovely cliffhanger where Vilgefortz kicks Geralt’s ass before Triss saves him by shoving him through a portal, Ciri kicks Cahir’s ass and jumps through a shittier portal, Yen disappears again, and Jaskier is forced to leave on his own, again. I love pain and being in it! Of course the finer details there are all subject to change but the big picture climax is that Vilgefortz is naughty and oops, war.

So that’s the bread, where’s the rest of the sandwich?

With news that Nivellen and Vereena have been cast, we know we’re getting an adaptation A Grain of Truth from The Last Wish. I suspect Geralt and Ciri will be stumbling upon that spooky mansion on the way to Kaer Morhen, but that’s about as far as I can think on that one. But will any of the other shorts pop up?

A Shard of Ice and Sword of Destiny have been essentially nullified by choices made by the show so far, so I think they’re safely out of the game (though A Shard of Ice sets up the Wild Hunt so presumably that will still need to be worked in somewhere)

I would LOVE to see Eternal Flame adapted because it is my exact sense of humour, and A Little Sacrifice has a great mood and freaky fish people. Both of them would be very interesting places to deal with Geralt and Jaskier’s spat -- a conflict not present in the books, but its presence in the show casts some of the events of the book in an interesting light. The primary issue I’m having is trying to figure out how to get them to fit into the timeline/trajectory of the ongoing plot (and my secondary issue is that the stuff with Essa was weird as hell, though I think it could be smoothed over).

Speaking of Jaskier, I’m quite interested in where they’re going to take his character, since the books (up to this point) didn’t really give him much of an arc, but Lauren Hissrich has noted that we’ll see more of his serious side and his struggle with what he really wants. To me, that sounds suggestive of giving him more of a role in the espionage story, and through that, better establishing his fear and guilt over his perceived inability to adequately help Geralt and Ciri without putting them in jeopardy, all while still dealing with their falling out. He’s loyal, but he’s hurt, and he’s in a precarious position that he doesn’t really know how to handle.

The introduction of the falling out sets this storyline up into three nice beats. The first one was in the infamous episode 6, where Geralt tells him to hit the road, breaking hearts around the world. Jumping into the books, the second beat would be during the mage mash, where Geralt once again demands that Jaskier leaves -- this time, though, for his own safety. And then we get the third beat, in Brokilon forest (hopeful button for the end of S2 or moody opener to S3? Both work imo), when Geralt tries to get Jaskier to leave Brokilon, and Jaskier puts his foot down and says no. That seems like a place to aim for, and once again, make everyone cry.

The aforementioned shorts would be a great place to let that arc marinate, though the exact details are still something I’m mulling over. (Honestly I really just want big city shapeshifter shenanigans because LISTEN... listen. It’s good) More importantly, though... what kinda music is he gonna bring us next season?

Yen’s plotline is running through muddier waters for me on account of the books rarely dipping into her perspective, but she’ll no doubt be involved in trying to suss out what’s going on with the mages. She allegedly has a scene with Francesca somewhere, and Istredd and Stregobor are returning (despite being absent at this point in the books) so presumably they will also cause problems. There are a lot of different directions they can go with her here, as I touched on briefly earlier wrt the fallout from Sodden Hill, but a lot of it might have to be spun wholecloth in a way I’m not so sure I can make any truly educated assumptions about. How is Geralt going to find out she’s still alive? How is he going to re-initiate contact with her? We’ll surely get some ripe emotional conflict as her, Triss, Sabrina and Tissaia deal with the conspiracy in very different ways. Too many viable answers and none that I’m going to place any bets on but am still, of course, excited for.

Cahir is another complete wildcard for me. I haven’t seen enough of him in the books thus far to make super accurate predictions but “gets horsejacked and ass-kicked by Ciri and then yelled at by Geralt until he faints” is quite a ways away from “slaughters an entire tavern in a fit of paranoid rage” (I get the impression Show!Cahir is also much older than his book counterpart). I can’t imagine it’d make much sense in the long run for them to have actually combined he and Rience’s characters, but I almost wonder if that’s what’s going on. Presumably, Fringilla will play a part in whatever he’s up to.

The Temple is in an odd place. No mention or setup of it so far so I wonder if it’s been excised entirely for streamlining purposes. Ciri goes from studying the blade in Kaer Morhen to studying magic in Aretuza without the complication of a third location (also for magic study) in between?

Yarpen’s return more or less also confirms that the subplot with the dummy cargo from Blood of Elves will occur in some form or another, likely as a means of establishing the Squirrels.

And here’s some incomplete and assorted tentpole book scenes (that I haven’t already addressed) that we’ll likely get in some form:

Several Ciri training montages (insert Jaskier cover of Eye of the Tiger here)

Ciri parent trapping Geralt and Yennefer

Geralt vs the river monster vs Rience’s dudes

Geralt and Philippa vs Rience and more of his dudes

Basically any of the points where Ciri goes into a trance, plus the incident with the wyvern

Introductions for Emhyr, Dijkstra, and Philippa

It goes without saying but a lot of forethought has been put into the Netflix adaptation, despite some fanboy bellyaching. There were many points where, reading the books, I found myself reacting emotionally based on things that had only been set up in the show -- from Ciri and Yen’s relationship and their approach to magic, to Geralt and Jaskier’s reconciliation, to Vilgefortz’s turn, most of the changes made by the show are really there to further reinforce events from the books. And boy, are there events to be had.

In conclusion,

#the witcher #witcherposting #thoughts welcome

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mobius-prime · 5 years

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124. Sonic the Hedgehog #71

Heeeyyy, is that a pair of green eyes I see up there? Have we finally reached the issue where Sonic's eyes become his trademark green? Guess we'll have to dive into this "strangest issue ever" to find out…

In the Beginning…

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Art Mawhinney Colors: Barry Grossman

Hey, why is the secondary story being told first? Hm…

Amy has led Tails to the same part of town she and Dulcy explored several issues ago, when they looked around the Mobotropolis Library for Kirby books. Tails is a bit nervous, but Amy excitedly leads him inside, and happily greets a Mobian dog sitting on the floor surrounded by books. But who is this person?

So yeah, no telling how this guy somehow survived ten years inside Robotnik's own city without being captured, or how he kept the library in such pristine condition since then, but as you may have guessed this is the guy who made the noises - accidentally, due to creaky doors - that scared Amy and Dulcy off the first time. But now, in the intervening time, Amy has returned and made friends with him, and has been getting access to all sorts of Kirby books to read. Tails takes the book Jeremiah is holding and discovers it to be a book of the history of Mobius, which Jeremiah claims his grandfather had been working on right up until Robotnik seized power. He doesn't bother going into the issue of, say, whether Kirby is even still alive after the war, but Tails jumps right into the book, reading it aloud for Amy to enjoy as well. In the beginning of time, life evolved after a meteor struck the planet, eventually branching off into different species. The most advanced of them all was apparently the echidna, because even when Kenders isn't working on his own pet sister series, he still has to make the echidnas, like, the best ever. One day, a squirrel named Alexander decided he wanted to unite every Mobian species to advance knowledge together and build a stronger society. The only ones who refused him were the echidnas, who went off to build their own society, and the Overlanders, who were too violent and acted with aggression when offered this choice. However, with nearly every other species agreeing, the building of a kingdom began…

This oddly seems to conflict with the history of Mobotropolis we were given just a few issues ago, where it was stated that it was built to commemorate Nate inventing ring technology and bringing the kingdom out of the medieval era. I mean, I suppose the beginning of the Acorn line could have coincided with the construction of Mobotropolis, but it seems odd, then, that Nate would have been omitted from such an important piece of history. It would also basically make King Max only the second Acorn king ever, since Nate was essentially an adopted uncle to him, which incidentally also makes the king's line about Sally being the "first female Acorn" to be immersed in the Source of All kind of silly if there were only two males before her. Even more ridiculously, this simply would not leave enough time for the echidnas, after rejecting the offer of multiculturality, to go off and found Albion, split off, build Echidnaopolis, raise the Floating Island, and go through like six hundred more years of history with the Brotherhood of Guardians before reaching the present day. Honestly, I think this is just a genuine continuity mistake, but it's not really a big deal, as one could suppose that, say, Mobotropolis was merely rebuilt to the standards of modern technology when Nate arrived. This is somewhat supported by Tails' next line, which references the beginning of the Great War with the Overlanders… dun dun duuuunnn!

And now is when I add the title, writer, penciller, and colorist for the next story, right? R-right?

Oh, we're just jumping right into it, are we? Well okay then. Sonic indeed has his green eyes now, as well as shoe buckles which are important to Sally for whatever reason, but we don't even know the story behind it. Well, we were promised a bizarre issue, and we're getting one - this entire story is told in reverse! We essentially have to follow the events backwards to figure out what caused everything we're seeing. So jump backwards twenty minutes before the above page, and everyone in Mobotropolis is celebrating that the energy beam that was about to destroy reality has vanished, with Nate crediting Sonic using his speed, along with a super emerald. Sally, in Knothole, feels woozy, but then reasons that if she's woozy, she's alive, which must mean Sonic succeeded. Uh… succeeded in what, though?

Sonic essentially starts pulling a Superman-style time reversal, running insanely fast around and around the entire globe, which begins to force him into shifts of alternate forms - first Super Sonic, then Ultra Sonic from when he fought Naugus. Then, passing through the desert near Sand-Blast City, he begins to experience never-before-seen forms, beginning with Solar Sonic, which turns him a brownish-orange. In the Southern Tundra, he becomes Polar Sonic with white-blue fur, and in the Great Rainforest he turns into Eco-Sonic. The glowing time-beam, which he is attempting to attract to him with his speed, turns and begins to follow him, and before he can get away from it, it strikes him…

Back to thirty minutes prior! Sonic is in Mobotropolis, staring at the beam from the palace along with Nate and the king. The beam is focused on Knothole, causing it to slowly shift back to its proper place within the flow of time. However, if left unchecked, the beam will eventually screw up time all over the planet, destroying it. Sonic asks Nate how they'll handle it, and he suddenly pulls out, presumably from his own anal cavity since it's never addressed where he was keeping this giant thing, a white Super Emerald.

Back up ten minutes! Sonic has just broken through the time barrier around Knothole separating it from the rest of the world, but Sally, to his surprise, isn't with him. He tries to head back in through the Great Oak Slide to find her, but the slide is glowing so brightly - three times more brightly than when he entered - that he doesn't want to risk blindness. Instead, he races off to Mobotropolis to find help.

Rewind eight minutes, and Sally and Sonic have just entered Knothole. Everything within is incredibly bizarre, and things seem to be moving backwards, even people's speech.

Just in case you have trouble reading backwards, by the way, Jules is saying "Where on Mobius is our son, Bernie? He's been avoiding us for weeks now," to which Bernie responds "I'm sure he'll communicate with us when he's ready, Jules, my darling," which is totally how people talk to each other. Sonic and Sally, realizing that time is even more messed up here than it already was before with the whole three-hours-ahead thing, try to leave the village so they can find out what's going on, but the odd glow surrounding them, somehow protecting them from the backwards flow of time, also prevents them from interacting with anything in the area, including the Great Oak Slide. Sonic gets a crazy idea of how to escape anyway - just go through the time barrier!

Well now we know why he was surprised that Sally wasn't with him before, but say, what was happening ten minutes before now? Well, Sonic and Sally were sliding down the Great Oak Slide, of course! It's filled with a blinding yellow light, which Sonic reasons must be connected to the bright light he saw a few minutes ago. What bright light? Well, going back seven minutes should give us the answer! Sally and Sonic are walking around in the forest, discussing his previous disobedience of the king's order not to go after Nate. Sally reassures him that her father wasn't actually angry, just had to keep up appearances, and after a brief discussion of Queen Alicia's static state and Dr. Quack's continued efforts to find a cure for her, the topic turns to Sonic's own parents, and how Sally thinks he hasn't been spending enough time with them as they've been worried about him. Sonic, somewhat stunned, realizes she's right, and claims he "still hasn't got this parent thing figured out yet," which is… honestly really sad. Remember, this kid, since he was five, believed that his parents were dead, and not long after that lost the only other person he could see as a parent figure when Uncle Chuck was captured and roboticized. He's been so long without real parents that now that he suddenly has both his mom and dad back, he has no idea how to really interact with them. Their conversation is suddenly interrupted, however, by a flash of light from the entrance to Knothole…

Back to fifteen minutes ago, and Sonic, Elias, and the Secret Service have just returned to Mobotropolis, bringing Nate with them safe and sound. Despite Elias and Sonic sharing a broment together over their success, the king chews them out for jumping into danger despite his orders.

Well, the only unanswered question we have now is - where did the time beam come from that almost destroyed everything? The answer comes, of course, in the form of another satellite sequence which happened fifty-nine minutes earlier, with an O-SAT unit activating, focusing on the planet's surface, and ominously firing.

Because this issue is so confusing when read backwards (although I do admit to liking the dramatic effect it creates, especially with the final page showing the satellite firing), I'll just summarize in chronological order what happened, just in case anyone's head is reeling. While Sonic, Elias, Nate and the others were on their way back from West Robotropolis, the satellite fired a time beam towards the surface. The king ordered Sally to escort Sonic back to Knothole, where they witnessed a beam of light emit from the entrance. After entering, time was running backwards, and they attempted to escape to figure out the cause, but only Sonic managed to get out. He ran to Mobotropolis for help, where Nate concocted a plan to use Sonic's speed along with a Super Emerald to attract the beam to him instead. Sonic was hit by the beam, and as Knothole resumed an ordinary flow of time, Sonic's appearance changed to include buckles on his shoes and green eyes. Somehow, no negative effects came of this, and everyone lived happily ever after including Sonic, unfazed by his new form. Funnily enough, Sonic is the only character they bothered concocting a story for to explain how his eyes changed from black to green. Every other classic-styled character from the games who started with the black eyes just randomly, without any fanfare whatsoever, starts to develop colorful eyes as the issues progress, as we've already seen happening intermittently with Tails and Knuckles. I guess since Sonic is the main character, he gets special treatment? Eh, doesn't really matter. Oh, and of course, we've forgotten one more thing - the title and credits that were missing from the beginning of the story, but appeared on the final page in keeping with the whole reverse theme! I'll just go ahead and reprint them here exactly as they're spelled out in the issue itself…

Colors: odrailgaG knarF Pencils: reltuB nevetS Writer: srelloB lraK

Retro Activity

Oh, yeah. They went there.

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #sth 71 #writer: ken penders #writer: karl bollers #pencils: art mawhinney #pencils: steven butler #colors: barry grossman #colors: frank gagliardo

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medea10 · 5 years

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Medea Rambles - Changing Voice Actors (in anime)

Your favorite character! You love the way they look, the way they act, and in many cases, the way they sound. Yeah, voice actors are a vital role when it comes to bringing life to any character in animation. But what happens when your favorite character doesn’t sound the same as he/she used to?

It could mean your favorite character’s voice actor has CHANGED.

Don’t fear! This happens all the time and many factors can come into play to make that happen.

Because I’m bored today and have nothing better to talk about...

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BETTER TO TALK ABOUT!

(seriously, I do like this movie)

I want to talk about voice actors! Because I like talking about them. I have the highest respect for these people and these people give it their all with the characters they voice. Every scream Sean Schemmel ever gave as Goku, every cackle Sayaka Ohara gave as Beatrice, these performances can be considered remarkable and memorable as time goes by.

But we must all remember this. Voice actors are just like you or me. They are human. No one lasts forever. And when the unthinkable happens and a voice actor dies, many creators grapple with either retiring the character or hire a replacement.

In the anime world, it’s most likely the latter because there’s no way in fuckdom Professor Oak would EVER be retired as a character (R.I.P. Unshou Ishizuka).

Even though no one could match the charm of Unshou Ishizuka as Professor Oak and many other roles, we accept the change. But it’s not just death. Life in general can get in the way. Many voice actresses have long-running roles to voice even when they’re pregnant. So when they go on maternity leave, they’ll need a replacement. However these are thankfully temporary so we were able to get Mariya Ise to voice Bonnie on Pokemon again and soon Brina Palencia will be back to voicing Juvia on Fairy Tail (and congrats to her for the birth of her first baby).

Child actors in anime will probably not have the same voice they had 10 years ago and if a role is making a revival in the present, that person will more than likely not play that same role. Perfect example there would be Aaron Dismuke who was a young boy when playing roles like Al on Full Metal Alchemist and Hiro on Fruits Basket. When FMA: Brotherhood came out, it was very clear that Dismuke was well past puberty and so his role of Alphonse had to go to someone else.

And voice actors who sustain injury to their voices during production. Jessica Calvello, the original voice of Excel from Excel Saga literally blew out her vocal chords for this role and had to have her role replaced for the second half of the series. Was it noticeable? Fuck yeah it was. But it was for the greater good. Plus her replacement wasn’t that bad. In fact she did a good job with the wacky behavior of Excel. The dubbing company was on a deadline and it had to be met. So what’s done is done. I’m just happy Calvello healed from that and is still a voice actor.

And other issues like scheduling conflicts and controversial issues come into play throwing a monkey wrench in productions. But we all move on for the most part.

WE ALL MOVE ON!

Anyways, for the most part these are just singular acts concerning one or more characters at a time. What happens when AN ENTIRE CAST IS CHANGED?!

Well...it happens! It just depends on the circumstances with the anime. And let’s face it, some of these changes can be for the greater good. Take Sailor Moon for example. Yes, we all know this tale! Sailor Moon was originally licensed by DIC for the first few seasons. And then the next few seasons it was taken over by (the thankfully gone company) Cloverway. With both companies, the anime was given the royal fuck-over with skipping episodes, chopping or editing scenes, Americanizing everything, downplaying homosexuality, shotty voice work, and blow off an entire season. And during the transition from DIC to Cloverway, some of the voices were changed and it was noticeable.

Decade later, Viz Media swoops in and gives the fans what they waited for. The entire series redubbed with original names, Haruka and Michiru are lesbians, Fisheye has a penis, and season five can finally be shown. But for many of us, we were delighted to hear the voices to the characters we grew up with finally getting some justice. While many of us loved Sailor Moon growing up, it was kind of painful to hear some of the voices. I once again point to Haruka’s original voice (or Amara as they called her). And the same could also be said about the first dub to One Piece. This redub needed to happen! No one objected to this, nor should they! But that’s just one person’s opinion here. Others, not so much. Especially the next one!

POKEMON! Yes another anime that went through a giant change. In 2006 (right in the middle of a fucking arc mind you), Pokemon switched the dubbing rights from 4Kids to TAJ/Pokemon Company. To which we all said...

And then they got rid of all the voice actors who have voiced these characters for YEARS and replaced them. To fans of the show from the very beginning it was noticeable and STILL IS. To people who were born in 2006 and are watching this now as a teenager (fucking shit I feel old just realizing that), they probably wouldn’t give it a second thought.

I know it hurt fans and voice actors at first but look at the bright side, a lot of them went on to do great things after Pokemon. Veronica Taylor is busy doing Sailor Moon. Eric Stuart is still touring. And Andrew Rannells...I don’t think I need to bring up Book of Mormon. As it has been over 13 years since the change I think many of us have gotten used to or have accepted this.

Does that mean you’ve accepted Tracey’s new voice?

No. Fuck no. And I never will.

Yeah, Tracey’s a different story. I refuse to accept that change.

Anyways back to voice actors changing! Pokemon and Sailor Moon were kind of special cases as those had a bunch of in-fighting to get what we got. Same with One Piece because no one wanted to watch that hot mess get raped with censored items, Americanized names, and a horrific rap song that even Vanilla Ice would say that’s too much. But sometimes, an anime that has finished its airing and has been dubbed and released in the states, it will be out of print or its license will be expired.

Animes like Berserk, Squid Girl, Rozen Maiden, and Shakugan no Shana were all owned, licensed, and dubbed by a company. But then their licence would go belly-up and their title would no longer be available for purchase (at a decent price) or streamed on a website. Luckily, these titles were eventually saved. Kept the same is a different story there.

All four of those titles had one or more of their seasons dubbed and anything else the series had that wasn’t dubbed was now going to be dubbed by their current licencor. In many of these cases it was changed due to the fact that many of the original voice actors for these roles are not where this certain anime is being worked on. Like in the case of Shakugan no Shana, many of the voice actors reside in Vancouver BC and FUNimation, the licensing company is in Texas. Hence, you get the second and third season sounding way different from the first season. Yes, it’s convenient or cheaper to use people in your studio instead of waiting to hear from Canada. So that’s a possibility of why they do that. Or of course, scheduling issues/conflicts or wanting to do things their own way. Haven’t decided on which one to believe.

And then there are some animes like Escaflowne (an anime that was already dubbed and licensed and released in the late 90s) only for the whole thing to be redubbed by FUNimation decades later. Reasons? They re-licensed it? There was over 8 minutes of new footage found that was never dubbed? They found it necessary to do that? Take your pick!

Now most of what I’m talking about is mostly America problems. Does Japan redub classic anime? To my knowledge, no. But if they remake, reboot, or give a sequel, the cast might change. In recent reboots such as Fruits Basket, Berserk, Sailor Moon, and Genshiken, the entire cast will change to either appease the original creator’s wishes or start over with a clean slate. And if a series makes a return after several decades, of course they’re going to change voices, are you insane?

Why did I find the need to spew a bunch of useless information today? I felt inspired after Netflix decided to grace us with IT’S presence.

Neon Genesis Evangelion.

A classic in the anime community. A gateway anime for many. A massive mindfuck wrapped in a brainfart. A clusterfuck of many proportions.

The television series was licensed and dubbed by ADV back in the 90s. But of course that company went belly-up and so this series has been unreachable in terms of purchasing for over a decade. Even when Japan gives us reboots in the forms of movies for the Evangelion franchise, only those movies would be picked up (by FUNimation). They didn’t even touch the series. Didn’t they realize fans would pay through the nose to get a blu-ray release of this series? The most fans could get were split-up copies on DVD and old VHS tapes. This was a goldmine.

Alas, FUNimation was not the one to save the Neon Genesis Evangelion series.

It was Netflix.

But...all things come at a price when you make a deal with the devil. Netflix found it necessary to redub the entire series (both movies included) without giving word or even consideration to the original cast (that has been doing the voices to these characters for over 20 years). Spike Spenser, Amanda Winn Lee, Tiffany Grant, and Allison Keith wanted to help with this as they all had a lot of input in the original (especially Lee). Now before I cast stones upon this, I do give this dub some credit. They do make an effort to make this sound like an improved version of the 90s dub. And in some aspects I find the new voice to Shinji bearable. And I’m okay with many new casting changes. I mean NGE was okay, but the dub wasn’t the greatest. My only gripe with the change...

Downplaying Shinji x Kaowru.

Netflix, you just undid like a decades worth of change when it comes to homosexuality in anime. You just took us five steps backwards! Kaowru says he LOVED Shinji. “Like”? No, you like a pair of pants. You like that new Bruno Mars song. Kaowru said he LOVED Shinji. Why the fuck didn’t you keep that translation? The 90s dub was kind enough to have Kaowru say that and the 1990s were run by a bunch of prudes! I thought we were past this shit when we put an end to the old Sailor Moon dubs!

Now with this Netflix dub, many characters on Evangelion officially have 2-3 different voice actors. Or in the case of the character Toji, Johnny Young Bosch is the fifth person to voice him. But some platforms can have the anime itself, just not get the right with the english dub probably due to some legal loophole.

Whew, a lot of changes in anime, right folks? It almost feels like these dubbing companies want to erase the past, right? Well to be fair, everyone seems to be doing that. Disney keeps giving us live-action remakes to classic Disney animated films. Classic anime titles are being rebooted. Dubbing companies are taking older animes and redubbing them. I know it feels like they want us to forget these dubs existed. But I know they just want to improve them.

No matter what, everyone will find fault with everything. And in the anime community, it feels like a never-ending flame war. Older animes will get hated on by how crappy it sounds or looks. And nostalgic fans will hate on the new dub because it’s with new people who sound nothing like the original.

YOU CAN (NOT) WIN!

Heh, I made an Eva-build joke.

With these redubs, many names get pronounced the correct way, many translations will be accurate to the Japanese version, and in some cases it’ll sound a lot better. Dubbing companies try to aim at new viewers and to introduce a new generation of anime fans to an old classic. But for people who grew up with animes like Pokemon, Escaflowne, Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, and many others, we grew accustomed to the dub. And when hearing it changed, it’s kind of a kick in the ears hearing anything penetrated or different from all the years you spent watching these animes.

Everyone has their own opinion of what they like and don’t like to hear. I like to give things the benefit of the doubt for the most part. Especially when I watch an older anime for the first time that has several dubs. When I began watching Rurouni Kenshin about 7 years back, I was warned that there were three English dubs to that. And I heard all three. I made my choice of which one I prefer, which one was okay, and which one needs to be set on fire. In case you don’t know, the original TV series had the best, the OVA series was okay, and the redub Sony did needs to be set on fire.

And that would be my advice to new anime watchers. Give both dubs a chance and make your decision on which one you like best.

Sadly, these changes will continue to happen whether for the better or the worst. While there are some changes that upset me, some I’m okay with if not pleased about it. But with the recent upset over fans hating on Evangelion’s new dub and change, do you think the fans will get a revolution and their old dub/old translations back? Let me put it to you this way. If Pokemon told us to sit and spin after many of us outraged over the cast change, what chance do Evangelion fans have against Netflix? But you never know, stranger things have happened. Maybe a miracle will occur and the old dub will get a blu-ray release.

In the meantime, I’ll have to re-write my thoughts on Evangelion with the ADV dub, FUNimation dub, and Netflix dub. TOO MANY DUBS!

This has been another Medea ramble. I’ll go back to doing whatever it is I normally do around here.

#pokemon #escaflowne #neon genesis evangelion #evangelion #sailor moon #Shakugan no Shana #Full Metal Alchemist #excel saga

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aion-rsa · 5 years

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House of X and Powers of X: Key X-Men Comics to Read

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We picked out some key books from Marvel's history to help you understand the big X-Men reboot.

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House of X and Powers of X have done the unthinkable: they’ve made having an encyclopedic knowledge of Marvel X-Men continuity minutiae an asset. Now I have a reason to talk about Xorn’s brother Xorn who was posing as Magneto pretending to be Xorn OTHER than to make someone go away.

This is, of course, a joke. HoX/PoX is remarkably accessible for anyone with any level of background knowledge of the X-Men, from “I like Hugh Jackman” to “remember the time the Sentinels tried to kill the sun because it was causing mutations?” But there is certainly a lot in here that rewards deeper knowledge. And to help you understand it all, we put together a reading list that might help you see the throughlines from Marvel Comics history that help create the comics sensation revitalizing the X-Men books.

For this reading guide, we’re not only going to tell you what’s good and why we like it. We’re also going to try and piece together how it fits into what Jonathan Hickman and crew are doing in today’s series. Because of that, we’re slapping a big ol’ SPOILER WARNING here: proceeding beyond this point risks spoiling big twists from the first half of the HoX/PoX epic.

FOR GENERAL BACKGROUND: X-Men: Grand Design

Ed Piskor is the indie comix guy who, prior to this book, was best known for a webcomic-turned-prestige-series, Hip-Hop Family Tree, which told the story of the origins of the biggest genre in music (it’s fantastic, by the way). His acclaim for that book, where he would quite frequently homage superhero covers, eventually garnered enough attention from Marvel for them to take a risk on him. In a fit of uncharacteristic ambition, they allowed Piskor to rework thirty years and 300 issues of X-Men or X-adjacent comics into one miniseries. The result is absolutely stunning.

There are retcons involved, but Piskor manages to turn several eras of comics history into one coherent narrative. Retcons become plot points, characters move rationally instead of for post-hoc rationales and slow-burn payoffs are seeded even earlier. It’s all done with a distinctly underground style, which is refreshing and appropriate, since this is the era when the X-Men became counterculture iconography.

In other words, if you need the best X-Men comics history lesson imaginable, this is the book for you.

Pay close attention to: Anything with Moira Mactaggert. The revelation in House of X #2 that current Marvel continuity was the tenth time Moira had been resurrected and that she had been planning for six lives to protect the mutant race casts literally the entirety of X-Men history in a new light. So now any interaction with the Professor or his students, like, say, when she was watching Jean Grey become the Phoenix on Muir Island, has potentially new meaning. Grand Design is particularly valuable here because Piskor started before the planning for Hickman’s relaunch did, so you are reading source material that the rebooter himself was probably working off of.

read more - The Best Episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series

You may also like: For tone and craft, X-Men: Grand Design is unique. Despite countless reboots and cleanups attempted in the almost 50 years the X-Men have been published, nothing to my knowledge has been this comprehensive or accessible. However, if you like the characters and the idea of a modernized, streamlined origin-esque story, Jeff Parker and Roger Cruz’s mid-aughts series, X-Men First Class, which tells new stories with the original team of X-Men, is worth checking out. It’s a lot of fun, certainly a lot more fun than reading the original Silver Age issues themselves.

start with the first volume of X-Men: Grand Design here.

TO UNDERSTAND THE BIG THEMES: Ultimate Comics: Hawkeye

No, I’m not kidding. I am absolutely recommending an alternate universe Hawkeye miniseries in an article about X-Men comics.

On his way to destroying it, Jonathan Hickman was given space to play around with the Ultimate Universe, and he used it, writing a Thor miniseries and relaunching the Ultimates. Ultimate Comics: Hawkeye was the third prong of his overall story and it focused on a fictional country - the Southeast Asian Republic - as Hawkeye and a team of SHIELD agents arrive on site to deal with a civil war. We quickly find out that SEAR scientists have created a virus to eliminate the X-gene, and a serum that gives their own people a virus-resistant mutation. A “paradigm shift,” as one of the SEAR officials calls it.

That government unleashes both prongs of the plan and promptly loses control of the situation, setting up SEAR as a mutant haven for people taking their serum and thus one of the three prongs of a global conflict that plays out in Ultimate Comics: Ultimates.

Pay close attention to: The Xorns. Not because they’re anything like the ones who have shown up in HoX/PoX - the ones in House of X have only thus far been glimpsed, and the millennial nihilist icon from Powers of X is a corpse in an alternate timeline (probably).

read more - Pryde of the X-Men: The Animated Series We Almost Got

No, we’re watching the Xorns in Ultimate Comics: Hawkeye because the idea of mutants as resources in a geopolitical struggle seems central to the conflict playing out between the Krakoan mutants and the humans in the X^1 timeline of today’s series. With all the talk of omega mutants and alignments, you should be able to get a very good sense of what is to come in the mutant conflict by reading this.

You may also like: Ultimate Comics: Ultimates, Hickman and eventual Secret Wars collaborator Esad Ribic’s story of what else is going on in the world while SEAR blows up. That story is mainly concerned with SHIELD being woefully outgunned by the mutants on one side, and evil Reed Richards’ Asgard- and Europe- destroying hyper evolved Children. It’s really good.

read Ultimate Comics Hawkeye here.

FOR A SENSE OF THE TONE: “Days of Future Past”

“Days of Future Past” is right smack in the middle of what Piskor covers in Grand Design. So why read it separately? Because I strongly suspect this is the foundational text of what Hickman is trying to do with his story.

This is one of the all-time classic X-Men stories by maybe the most well liked team in the franchise’s history. In the far future of 2013, Sentinels have taken control of the US and are on their way to taking over the world, because they see human existence as the flaw causing mutation that they are programmed to wipe out. So they kill most of the heroes and round up the remaining ones into camps. Wolverine, Rachel Summers (in her first appearance), Katherine Pryde (not long after her debut), Colossus, Storm and Magneto all team up so Rachel can send Kitty’s consciousness back in time, take over her younger body and prevent the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (led by Mystique and Destiny) from killing Senator Robert Kelly, sending the future spiralling towards extinction.

These two issues function as an effective preview of the conflict that HoX/PoX explores. Humans are irrationally afraid of Mutants, who alternate between trying to be left alone and trying to dominate their progenitors. Meanwhile, the robots say “you both suck” and (presumably before falling into the sun in the case of Mothermold) just start killing.

read more: X-Men Movies Watch Order

Furthermore, “Days of Future Past” is precisely the kind of dystopia that PoX is pushing. The X^2 future has lot of Age of Apocalypse trappings, but its central conflict is between mutants trying desperately to survive and robots who hate everything biological trying to destroy everyone. Surprisingly, though Nimrod is closely associated with this dark future, he doesn’t actually appear in these issues. He comes back in time about 50 issues later, from that future but not seen in it.

Pay close attention to: The mood and milieu of this story are the important factors, but it’s also probably worth keeping an eye on Destiny and Moira Mactaggart here. The mutant precog had one very...pointed...run in with Groundhog Lady in her third life, and they come very close to each other here. This may be fertile territory for a retcon.

You may also like: Uncanny X-Men #208-209. This is Nimrod’s big battle with the X-Men and the Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle, as Rachel Summers lays dying in Central Park. It’s nowhere near the bleak, oppressive tone that “Days of Future Past” has, but you get some sense here of the sheer power that Nimrod has at his disposal. Also, he’s clearly insane, and as far as things you want from your robots, insanity is not high on the list.

read Days of Future Past here.

TO UNDERSTAND THE MAIN VILLAIN: “The Phalanx Covenant”

The X-Men crossover that introduced Generation X, the second wave of mutant students after the New Mutants/X-Force, also seems surprisingly important. Originally presented as an offshoot of the techno-organic space mutant Warlock’s race, the Phalanx are half Borg, half grey goo nightmare. In this story, they invade Earth to assimilate and destroy it, but find that they can’t assimilate mutants, so they start trying to figure out why by kidnapping the X-Men and a group of teens identified as potential students. They fail, of course, but not before planting phalanx eggs around the planet and killing off a character who became inexplicably popular a year and a half later (Blink, who existed in the 616 for a grand total of 20 minutes before dying. She’s great, but I don’t get why she endured and not someone like Synch).

read more: The Many Different Versions of the X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga

The Phalanx are the hive galaxy in the X^3 future being called down by the Librarian to assimilate humanity, and it looks like (at least in whatever life of Moira’s this is), they’re finally successful.

Pay close attention to: Husk and M. I went back and forth on whether to prioritize this or the other comics you might like, trying to figure out which is more important to the narrative, and what sold me on The Phalanx Covenant is the fact that Husk and M are part of the X-Men strike force attacking Mothermold in space in House of X. They’re also two of the more plot-relevant members of Generation X during this crossover - Monet is the one who finally breaks them out of captivity, and Husk’s powers are revealed because one shell is infected with TO virus. That doesn’t feel like a coincidence.

You may also like: Annihilation: Conquest. This is the second mid-aughts Marvel Space crossover, the first helmed by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning exclusively, and the one that launched this line of books into what would eventually give us the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. The galaxy is reeling from the events of Annihilation, and as it recovers, the Phalanx take over Hala and the remains of the Kree empire. This series is good, pure Marvel Space fun. It’s the exact moment where I fell in love with this line of books. It’s also very thorough in laying out the mythology and rules of the Phalanx.

read The Phalanx Covenant here.

TO TAKE A WILD GUESS ON WHAT IS YET TO COME: “The Dark Angel Saga”

This run on Uncanny X-Force, ostensibly a side book full of stabby mutants (and Deathlok) brought together first as Cyclops’ wetworks squad, then held together by Angel’s money, is without a doubt the best X-Men comic of the last 15 years. It’s also brimming with Apocalypse lore, which feels like one of a couple things left deliberately unstated by the events of HoX/PoX.

The gang finds an Akkaba enclave in the desert, discovering that they’ve resurrected Apocalypse and are training the now six year old kid to be the evolutionary destroyer they believe he’s destined to become. So Fantomex shoots the kid in the head.

read more: The X-Men Movies You Never Saw

What follows is an extended superhero musing on nature vs. nurture, while at the same time the Death Seed Apocalypse planted in Angel’s back to turn him into Archangel takes over Warren’s mind, turning him into the new Apocalypse. The story goes through all the reasons for it and has Warren reassemble his horsemen. It functions essentially as a deep dive into the reasons for Apocalypse’s ascension and the role that he plays in the galactic ecosystem of the Marvel Universe.

That’s noticeably missing from Apocalypse’s scenes in the new series.

Pay close attention to: The Celestial stuff. Apocalypse in Powers of X was a heroic figure, leading a suicide mission against Nimrod and the robots to get Moira information on Nimrod’s emergence so she could stop it in life 10. There’s no mention of the role he was originally created for, one that exists separate from the Moira cycle because it started thousands of years before she was born: to guide evolution on Earth so the Celestials don’t return and destroy it. How that plays into the man-mutant-machine war seems like a clear fit, but also completely unmentioned.

You may also like: Uncanny X-Men vol. 2 #14-17. Even though it takes place during the utterly dreadful A vs. X, Kieron Gillen’s Mr. Sinister story is the definitive recent take on the master genetic manipulator, and he’s DEFINITELY coming.

read The Dark Angel Saga here.

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Feature Jim Dandy

Sep 10, 2019

Marvel

X-Men

Jonathan Hickman

from Books https://ift.tt/2ZPW4sO

#aion-rsa #Books

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the-skooma-den · 5 years

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Aight! part 2 to my whole shebang on my eso main syke! Part 1 is here and it covers the basics of who/what she is. This one is how she goes through the main plot, all thats under cut

And here is a directory to both posts about her, as well as the ones about her siblings

Were gonna do this bullet point style .also just assume the main plot quests are going on at the same time, the “main” quest remains relatively unchanged aside from her relationship with Abnur Tharn, who is her grandfather, which although it sounds important really isnt because she hates him.

Pre main plot: Mostly covered in the previous posts

Her time before the main plot, as a member of the brotherhood. At the time of her kidnapping she was mentally a wreck and moments away from a mental break. She was on a lot of drugs and was drunk pretty often, it was a very bad scene. On top of that morally speaking was pretty ambiguous if not downright evil.She was actually infamous in the brotherhood for her ruthlessness. (It’s actually a common story to tell the new recruits about the time she slit a babies throat in front of its mother because the mother got in her way). Overall unsympathetic and completely apathetic to worries of the world around her.

It’s worth noting that deep down she was already ashamed of herself, which fueled a lot of her unhealthy behavior. She doesnt see much wrong with how the brotherhood operates in general (she was literally raised in their cult so not much surprise there) But her earned reputation as being brutal was not one she was proud of

Eventually she was drunk one night and was captured and sacrificed by the worm cult, thus starting the main plot

Cold Harbor: She was in cold harbor for a long long while ,she’s not actually sure how long she was there. It felt like years, but when she got back to nirn she had only been missing for about 6 months, and some of the injuries she couldve sworn were there for a months looked only hours old when she escaped. Her experience there haunts her for a long time,pretty much the rest of her life, but she does her best to deal with it. Her time here cause her first real shift, because now she cares about something. Even if it’s just caused he pissed her off. She’ll stop at nothing to stop Molag Bal even at the cost of her life. Which might not really be an issue in the first place, as thanks to her lack of a soul she is essentially immortal. Whenever she “dies” her body falls to the ground and her concienness is left to wander nearby while it magically heals (unless the body is completely destroyed, then she ends up at a wayshrine a while later)

Cold harbor is where she got her most prominent scars. The shackles around her neck (mostly on the back of her neck) and wrists and lashes on her back. All of her piercing were ripped out as well. Her hair is extremely matted and overall shes just gross and uncomfortable She also has 2 neat and precise stab wounds above her heart from manimarco.

Khenarthi’s roost/ Auridon: After Razum-dar drags her out of the ocean looking like hell, She’s so dazed from ya know,dying and coming back to life that she doesnt bother coming up with any kind of character or disguise, she barely even has the mind to come up with her fake name,Syke.

When he dredged her up he immediately brought her to healers and though they had to work pretty quickly they fixed her up well. They cut off all the matted bits of her hair (which she later fixed into her little Mohawk thing), they healed up all her tears from the piercings being ripped out. They also healed up the wound from the shackles and whips the best they could ,they couldn’t do it all the way through but they made sure it wouldn’t get infected at least, but there was no way to stop it from scarring.

She actually does know who Raz is even though they’ve never met, she’s just heard of him. She figures “Hey getting the support of the Queen and her spy force would be useful” so she goes along with it and helps him. She manages to conceal the fact she knows who he is pretty well, but he is still suspicious. (which to be fair a women who was recently pretty clearly a prisoner falling out fo the sky and clearly being a experience fighter and mage isn’t exactly normal). She proves herself dangerously competent, extremely useful (and also kinda hot) so Raz asks for her help on Auridon as well.

Only a few notable divergent from the main plot of things happen while on Auridon. The first is that after she is appointed as an Eye of the queen she asks the queen to speak privately for a moment and while no one knows 100% of what they spoke about, the main thing is that this is when Syke explains the whole “I have no soul and am planning on killing Molag Bal to get it back” thing. As his invasion is starting to really mount up by this point the queen promises to support the endeavor whenever it happens so on so forth.

The second is an extra moment between Raz and Syke after the quest at Mathiisen. Basically She looks at Raz and realizes since she’s met him like 4 of his friends have died. She’s not very good with people or emotion but, well they may not really trust each other but they still like each other…and she’s at least pretty sure they're friends,all his other friends are kinda dead, she figures she might as well TRY to comfort him. This ends up with them getting absolutely smashed in the local inn and is basically an excuse for exposition because Raz knows almost nothing about her at this point. He does end up learning quite a bit about her, including that she’s from a little town north of silvinar (which honestly, kinda obvious. She has a pretty strong east bosmeri accent even after living away from there for years and years), and that she’s at least somewhat noble with little to no interest in claiming her titles. She greatly downplays HOW noble she is. He returns the favor and tell her he’s from a little farming village and She immediately guesses what part of Elsweyr hes from, shes spent a lot of time there in her youth, and she could identify that southern Anequina accent anywhere. After this she takes to jokingly calling him Farm Boy…if only in private. They also learn more about each others families, though it mostly amounts to funny stories about their younger siblings.

They wake up horribly hungover (and naked) the next day and go on their separate ways for a bit. (aka, he goes to meet up with the Queen on their way to the festival in skywatch, Syke goes and does some sidequests and then they meet up during the festival. The plot continues)

Last little side note here is her addiction to skooma and other drugs. Dying, spending a long time in spooky terrible ghost hell prison, and then kinda but not really coming back to life has some pretty funny affects on a person. She didn’t get any kind of magical cure for her addiction, she was basically just forced to go cold turkey for god knows how long. She’s in an ok enough mental space to at least refuse skooma, but she still hits the alcohol pretty frequently.

Valenwood: Valenwood is where things get a little conflicted with her personal life, Namely because of her sister, Nia. (more on her in part 1 but quick summary, she ran away almost 10 years ago and faked her death,and then showed up with the bosmeri noble members of their family completely denouncing her, their mother and the rest of their family)

So while Syke is off doing the main quest in Valenwood, Raz puts together that one of the Dominions biggest supporters among the Bosmeri Nobles matches Sykes description of her sister. Raz decides to tell said Noble about the whole thing and she confirms that, that sounds a LOT like what happened between her and her sister. Raz learns a bit more about the whole family drama he has somehow stumbled into, including the whole “Nia ran away Thing, but doesn’t learn much about Syke specifically. Just that her and Nia are actually cousins, they have different last names and that she’s pretty much always gone by fake names or nicknames (and that Nia is working of the correct assumption that Syke wouldnt appreciate her real name being revealed)

Nia at this point, does not regret leaving and knows it was what was best for her, but defiantly regrets how she did it. Raz informs her that hes actually going to see Syke at Marbruk and invites her along to try and apologize to Syke.

Raz is expecting some heart felt reunions and tearful apologies and is of course surprised when Syke didn’t even let Nia say two words. She saw Nia, was stunned enough that Nia took off her mask without struggle but before she could get even 2 words out Syke decked her. Hard

So Raz talks to Nia (once she wakes up) and learns some alarming things from her. Mostly why Nia ran away in the first place (she didnt want to be a member of the dark brotherhood and being a impulsive teenager who figured that faking her death was the best option) and that yeah, Syke is not just a member of the brotherhood, but a really notable one,and also a lot about her …disturbing reputation in it. Not to mention the fact she’s a bit higher up on the nobility scale then she originally implied…by like a lot. She is pretty close to inheriting several thrones and important titles, and is by the way, Abnur tharns granddaughter.

Raz, of course, runs to the Queen to deliver the information that yeah, their extremely efficient new recruit is a member of the brotherhood, and is the granddaughter of the man who tortured her. The Queen already knows. Syke isnt dumb, she figured this might come up eventually and told the Queen first chance she got (remember that conversation in Auridon?). Ayrenn agreed to continue letting her be an Eye,with the understanding that if Syke ever moved against the Dominion she’d be killed on the spot. As for the Abnur Tharn thing, well Syke never really knew him. At the time of the Auridon conversation she had never met him, and you can’t really hold a person accountable for the actions of a relative she never knew… Course Syke had at this point met Abnur tharn multiple times but even someone with zero social grace like her understood that this was not the time to mention it.

Raz is pissed at Ayrenn and Syke for not telling him any of this, Syke is pissed at Nia for…everything she’s done for almost 10 years, and Ayrenn and Nia are getting along surprisingly well (and lowkey are kinda dating). Nia follows Syke around for the rest of the main Dominion plot, Syke is not happy about it but damn Nia’s hard to shake. Nia is as stubborn as her sister and If Syke won’t forgive her then she can at least try and help get her sisters soul back.

The Raz and Syke thing gets resolved before the end of Valenwood after another brief conversation where it really hits Raz with the pure amount of shit Syke’s been through and is still going through.

Yeah hes still mad, but shes desperately trying to apologize to him and honestly sometimes you have to cut a person some slack. Whatever her reasons for joining in the first place she is genuinely loyal to the Dominion (if she wasn’t those giant golden wing tattoos on her back were a real stupid move). There’s no way around the fact he’s a little intimidated by her now, for several reasons really. And it sucks and it hurts her but you can’t really blame him.

The main plot counties as it does, though I like to think they get a slight break at the end to actually enjoy the celebration appointing the new Silvinar and Green Lady for a couple days before things go to shit and she has to run out to reapers march.

Appearance wise, shes starting to replace her Piercings and she’s getting tattoos to cover her scars. Golden Laurels around the shackle marks and Golden eagle winds to cover the whip marks on her back. She really believes in the Queen at this point and thinks Ayrenn is the best bet Cyrodill has, to the point she’s decided to represent it on her body.

Reapers March: (technically part of Valenwood I think but i figure it deserved its own part) Even more shit hits the fan now, cause being declared an important figure in a completely different religion isn’t something that’s gonna help a crisis of faith. So a few things happen here.

A third member joins the party, Syke’s little adoptive brother Jo’Thera, a Khajiiti Necromancer and fellow member of the brotherhood shows up. He was besides being her little brother, easily Syke’s best friend. He knows She’s been unhappy for a long time now and when she disappeared he was the only one who didn’t just assume she killed herself. The moment he heard a rumor that a woman who sounded a lot like Syke was running around the Dominion territory he took off after her. (side note, the reunion between him and Nia isn’t as violent as her and Syke’s, its just bitter and cold and sad). He was never really all that loyal to the brotherhood, he was mostly in it for his family so when Syke explains the situation he’s just fucking ready man, ride or die. Fuck it lets go off the grid, tearing credit cards and shit if she’s out then he is. (She’s not actually out yet, leaving was never in the question for her. She desperately wants to get back to her famly she just wants her soul back first. He’s just supportive) and Syke is considerably happier to have him along then she was Nia (who while ostracized by her siblings, is still following along). He kinda creeps everyone out, cause on one hand he’s a perfectly cheerful friendly man. On the other hand he’s a necromancer assassin. It’s just an unsettling combination...It doesnt help that he aware hes creepy and finds unsettling people extremely fun.

So of course Senalana happens. She lets Raz live, so he is of course extremely mad. and thats a whole damn thing. It’s not to different from what happens in game, just imagine afterwards it’s more of a real argument rather then Raz just yelling at her, also its longer. And also imagine some more romantic tension between the player and Raz .LIke they aren’t really dating yet, but they've defiantly banged multiple times and theyre both lying about not having feelings for each other

She does have a good reason for letting him live outside of their growing romantic relationship. She doesn’t really believe in the dominion so much as she believes in Ayrenn and Razum-dar. She’s seen to much of the Dominion from the inside and out to really think well of it, but she knows Ayrenn. And she knows Raz. If someone has to be emperor/empress of her home she’d prefer it to be Ayrenn. However she is also convinced the Ayrenn won’t be able to do that without Raz specifically, Syke has seen them work together and at least from Sykes point of view if one loses the other then any hope the Dominion has of winning this war is fucked.

Anyway that whole argument ends up in a shouting match at the end of which Syke takes the circlet,disappears for a few weeks, hides it her own damn self and then continues on the main quest.

This is the main reason why it really took Raz and Syke so long to get together, if it weren’t for this they would have been together before Syke went back to coldharbor easy. This complicated things a bit, made them both think

Syke chooses Shazah as the Mane and was really torn up by Khali’s death. This only real difference between this and the canon quest is that she actually threatens Shazah towards the end of it, like full on knife to throat, right after watching Raz and Ayrenn die. Basically saying that if any of this comes to pass, Syke will hunt down the traitors first, then Shazah. And if it comes to it she’ll take the Ruby throne for herself (one of those moments that everyone remembers that she is a noble woman, even if she doesnt use the title. and also that no one but her really knows just how high up she is). Shazah asks her if she loves him. (him being Raz, she did just watch Syke sob over his body, then only tear up a little at Ayrenns corpse). Syke doesn’t Deny it, she doesn’t say anything. They just keep moving.

(Also Raz and the rest were being kept updated on what was happening during the whole ceremony and up until this point it was basically a mix of dark humor about their own deaths and sympathy for the girls having to go through it. At this point it goes dead quiet, eyes turn to Raz, and im not gonna extend this further by adding a pic of the surprised pikachu meme but in spirit its here and representing Raz’s face)

The main plot keeps on rolling till it’s time to storm cold harbor. She does go in alone though, despite her siblings insistence, she refuses to put them in danger of losing their souls to.

She has one final conversation with Raz before she goes, they admit nothing cause theyre stubborn bastards but they do apologize to each other

Cold Harbor: There’s really not much different here about how syke goes through it. The only things of note are that she’s terrified for the whole thing and also makes friends with a few of the other reoccurring characters, namely Darien, who i think shows up earlier then he actually does in game because he basically ends up her sidekick through the whole thing (though he might say otherwise). She is suitably distraught when he disappears. She helps out in the search for him whenever she can spare the time after that.

The Dlc start to happen about a year after the main quest (that year is when all the things like that mages and fighter guild happen). At this point her hair does keep going grey but once the stress of “I have no soul and i’m going to fight a god” goes away it slows down a lot. The worst of her scars are already covered by tattoos and her favorite piercings have already been replaced, so this point any additional piercings and tattoos are just for fun because she likes them.

as for the last 2 drawings,One is just her in game look,I thought it be fun to put in here. the other is just a reminder that she almost always wears a mask and that variations of this mask are the only thing most characters will ever see of her.

#my art #skooma rambles #Syke #eso #the vestige #Lordy this got long #im happy with it though #i might go even further into certain events later just becuase #this is so much fucking fun for me #also yeah apparently a part 3 for the dlc is coming

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justanotherdumpingground · 6 years

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Chapter Reviews: March 12-16, 2019 + ATV's Comeback

High School Story: Class Act Chapter 5:

Did I just support Rory's campaign after supporting the twin's? That I did. I laughed at the options to hold the dance off at the parking lot and pick a heartbreaking ballad. That would be an interesting choice.

I'm starting to dislike the twin for disrupting Rory's campaign. Not once did Rory disrupt the twin's bake sale, and the fact that the twin had the gall to not wait shows their foul play. I debated a bit to supoort the twin or Rory, and ended up going with the latter. Not to mention that the twin's support for more sports falls flat because there's more emphasis on it than cheer and band. Back in the first trilogy, Book 1 focuses on getting a new quarterback after Brian transfered to Heart, and Book 2 has Ashley Faris diverting funding from cheer and band to the basketball team as part of her embezzlement scheme with her brother.

Skye's birthday party is sweet, though I don't want mine held at a graveyard. The irony is that there's a cemetery in the same street I live in. Anyway, what's more important is that Skye's happy. She deserves true happiness, away from her horrible family.

Right now, I'm just curious to see how the trip with friends turns out. I wonder whether there will be more election-related drama, even though I dread it.

The Heist: Monaco Chapter 15:

Yes! I succeeded in getting Sonia to my side. For a moment, I thought she'll stay loyal to Ansel. And that premium scene with her is hot. It's like I finally stole her heart after she stole mine. So glad I picked her as my main love interest because she's the one I find most compelling. Even better was when she distracted Ansel and helped me escape.

Glad to see my training with Jones and Ulrich's gloves paid off. They were worth the diamonds because I got to see my MC being badass and making good use of important tools for the heist. I even stole a necklace that looks like Zenobia's along with the diamond. And the scene where I called Carlisle out for his exploitation of customers was much needed to blow off steam towards him.

The premium escape scene was really badass as well. Seeing Rye and Eris escape in style was cool, and having Fabien drive the main trio to safety was a relaxing calm before the storm. Now all I gotta do was punch Ansel in the face. It's now or never.

Desire & Decorum Chapter 12:

The corgi's back! I missed him! Just kidding. That's just another corgi with the same model as the one in TRR. Nevertheless, I miss the TRR corgi, and it's nice to see some Welsh because it's not a widely spoken language. Too bad I didn't watch the street performers, but after seeing how many of them have recycled models from TC&TF, I cry a little bit inside.

Anyway, it was fun being deceptively polite to Duke Richards and snarky at the same time. Makes me feel good about playing this series. Oh, and Felicity's back even though she's meh.

If there's one thing this book should do regarding the conspirators led by Duke Richards, it's to do justice to the showdown against them. It better not be like The Junior, where Nathan monologues and gets easily exposed, and the clues don't give any special advantages besides putting Beau and/or Kassidy in jail. Seeing that it closely involves the MC being married to Duke Richards, I say have that duke killed in the end.

America's Most Eligible Chapter 9:

Honestly, Piper's still the same smug snake like before. Even when her new show is doing well, I still don't trust her.

After seeing Eden wanting to confess her feelings to Kiana, I say why not? At that time, I thought she could get eliminated, so last chance, perhaps? Even after I've been proven wrong, I still don't regret my decision. It was sweet to see Eden mustering her courage.

Man, Bianca gets done dirty in All Stars, brought back only to have just one premium scene and she gets eliminated this chapter or earlier. I seriously wonder whether or not Pixelberry disregards the potential she brings just because she's female, and PB just wants to cater to its "target audience" despite their illogical demands. Anyway, she deserves better than this.

I really should be careful of Ivy not honoring our deal, especially since I have a negative relationship with her. Nevertheless, Slater gets eliminated, leaving me with one less tough competitor to deal with. The funny thing is that he's still friends with me. Let's see if he and Ivy wind up being interchangeable because of their pragmatism.

The Elementalists Chapter 1:

The opening scene with the girl Goeffe tried to protect and Discount Dorian Pavus got me thinking that the new book's plot will focus on the nine masters of each attunement. From the fight between them and his assumption that the other masters are weak for not realizing their potential, it seems that the nine elements rests on some sort of delicate balance, and the villain wants to use his powers to the hightst potential possible.

Anyway, back to Penderghast. I'm so glad Atlas and Aster have enrolled. I can't wait to see more of them, especially since Aster was severely sidelined in Book 1. I was shocked and amused to see that Greygarden Waithe looks like Yusuf Konevi with blue hair, blue skin, and yellow eyes. Boy, Pixelberry sure loves recycling character models. On another note, I hope I get to see more of the dynamics between the different races of the setting, especially since Aster mentioned the Wand Wars being a sour point in relations between humans and wood nymphs. It's too good of an opportunity for Pixelberry to pass.

I'm thinking of renaming the friend group from Five Stars to something else, probably The Week, with each member for each day of the week. As for the tour around Penderghast, I encouraged Atlas and Aster to focus on their studies. They're in a place of learning, so they should make the most of their enthusiasm for learning. I know Aster's the kind of person who wants to learn more, so that's a plus.

I like the element symbols on the choices. It makes me easier to choose which kind of spell depending on the situation at hand. Especially when it comes to the environment. It's helpful.

So we can get impression points with Discount Dorian Pavus, eh? Well, He's probably lying when he said that he knew MC and Atlas's parents, but I also think it means impression points will have more impact than before. I hope this new villain has a complex characterization and is very effective at his actions. So far, he has a colorful personality, which is better than Raife Highmore, who is bland and forgettable.

Ride or Die Chapter 9:

Why does it sound like Mona traded one undesireable situation (jail time, which shouldn't be bad for her) for another (ending up with the Mercy Park Crew)? It doesn't help that she has no problems continuing her life of crime. And why destroy a functioning car even if it's old? I swear, she doesn't have much of a personality besides being a criminal who doesn't regret her actions, but then again, I pick her out of "pity" and not because of her personality.

Because I sided with Darius, he visited my MC as well as calling her in the previous chapter. As part of me roleplaying (or trying to) her as an informant dedicated to justice, I told him to just trust me, since the Brotherhood is implied to be the antagonists, and he better stay away from being collateral damage.

Colt and Kaneko, you idiots! I get that the Brotherhood is E.V.I.L., but recruiting Salazar despite how much of a snake he is? Hooray for MPC logic! Another reason to throw them under the bus, though it's part of my plan all along anyway.

Open Heart Chapter 5:

I enjoy the friend group of this series, but I also worry that this competition for the diagnostics team position will jeopardize their friendship. As for Aurora, I told the group that she's not as bad as people say. Despite her aloof personality, disregard of small talk, and an unacceptable remark, there's more to her than meets the eye. She resents being associated with her aunt, is actually good with patients like Annie, and makes no attempt to ruin oter people's performances. It's extremely naïve to assume she shouldn't be a complex character, given her understandable annoyance of being seen as Harper's niece and hidden depths with Annie.

Hello, familiar faces. I kinda laughed at Senator Lucius, Kyle Garza, and Percy Mendoza's faces at the baseball match. Pity I didn't buy the premium outfit, but thr baseball manager's so darn relatable on his lack of familiarity with medical terms.

So, Rafael is a love interest? Not surprised because of his popularity among the fanbase. Didn't pick the premium option to fly with him, so I watched on YouTube, and it was okay. I get to know a bit about him and that he looks up to his uncle, which is nice. Not to mention that the sunset view is beautiful.

More thoughts on Across the Void's return:

As I've said earlier, I'm not excited for it to return. I'm wary of Pax and Eos for being nuisances, the love interests lacking sufficient development for me to care for them, and the Vanguard vs Jura conflict lacking enough focus to the point that I don't know enough of them to care. Maybe Pixelberry will fix this issue by focusing more on the gray vs gray conflict they've set up. After all, this story is supposed to be an adventure that allows us to experience various areas of the conflict.

#choices stories you play #choices high school story: class act #choices hssca #choices desire & decorum #choices d&d #choices the heist: monaco #choices th:m #choices america's most eligible #choices ame #choices open heart #choices oh #choices the elementalists #choices te #choices ride-or-die #choices rod #choices across the void #choices atv #chapter reviews

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bastardrobocop · 6 years

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on fallout 76

so, because im a fool i pre ordered fallout 76. frankly, i was going to buy it on release anyway because im starved for anything fallout and new california was a complete bust.

anyway, this means i have had access to the “B.E.T.A.”, which isn’t really a beta. it’s just server stress tests. i’ve done every pc round so far and i feel like i can say pretty conclusively that it’s just not very good.

sorry, this is going to be a long meandering post

i dont know if its something they can fix in the like, week before they launch the game, but the delay/latency/feel is so fucking whack it’s unbelievable. the multiplayer fallout new vegas mod feels like it has better netcode. in addition, it is dreadfully optimized. i play on a laptop, so maybe take my perspective with a grain of salt, but i’m not the only one who has pointed this out. i use an nvidia 970m, which runs fallout 4 at around 50/60 frames per second. fallout 76 tops out at around 10-30 on average. just wandering the world, the framerate is atrocious. performance is best in small interior cells and in wide open spaces with nothing in it. in more dense and enemy populated areas, the game stutters hard. more than once ive had the game freeze for several seconds during a firefight. its honestly inexcusably bad most of the time. with poor latency and framerate chugging, the gameplay experience is trying. it makes literally everything painful, including just inventory management and crafting.

the gameplay itself isnt too awful in that its just fallout 4 again but without the pretense of minimal rpg elements. performance problems can make some engagements suck, but most common enemies aren’t too hard. however, the real nasty ones that are higher level than you can be nigh on impossible to take down solo, which sucks because my friends arent always available and dealing with online randos is always bad. but it’s also the only way to get like, good weapons. but anyway, the core gameplay loop is almost the same. i say almost because the ‘workshop’ storage is your only storage. and it has a 400lb limit. which takes into account anything you put in it. this should seem like an obvious issue; you basically cant afford to store things if you gather valuable resources. im currently stuck carrying this big fucking rocket launcher which is useless right now because i dont have any inventory space for missiles, which weigh a ton. also, ammo has weight now. and you can’t scrap ammo for ammo parts like gunpowder or lead. and you can’t sell ammo either. so instead you just have to like, dump hundreds of rounds just on the ground since you can’t store them in the workshop because you need space for steel and adhesive and that M2 Browning that you can’t use yet but want to hold onto because it looks bitchin. however, you can bulk scrap with plastic, which reduces weight by about half. however, therein lies another problem; plastic becomes a precious resource because you can’t make a bulk pile of wood without it for some reason. plastic is currently more precious than literal gold. still, you get stuck holding a bunch of valuable scrap in your inventory which you can’t put into your stash because it’s full and you can’t go out and find more plastic because then you’ll be over-encumbered and you cant afford to drop this circuit board and you can’t build any more things in your camp because the budget is painfully low and even when you DO get enough plastic to bulk things the bulked stuff goes into your inventory and wont necessarily fit back into the stash and i’m still carrying this fucking missile launcher please god let me put down this missile launcher please oh please god

the ui is a disaster. it’s like they turned 4′s console/gamepad control scheme and doubled down on it; on pc, random keys are bound to multiple things and then also bound to a separate key, and you can’t re-bind things individually. so that means middle mouse is both ‘open favorite item wheel’ and ‘enter third person’ and ‘enter build mode’ when there’s also V which is also ‘enter third person’. you cannot change this. there will always be one button for this. there is still no separate binding for bash and grenade throw, of course. if you press escape, it opens the map. if you press m, it opens the map. to open the pause menu with things like ‘options’ and ‘microtransaction store’ and ‘quit the game’, you have to open the map with either escape or M and then press Z. there is no direct button to take you to the pause menu, as far as i can tell. when you go up to a workbench, there are three options; E to craft, R to scrap, Space to repair and modify. from this menu, if you want to scrap an item, you must mouse over it, and then select it. however, DO NOT MOVE THE MOUSE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. even if the prompt is open and asking if you want to scrap, say, a pump action shotgun, if you mouse over and the highlight moves over to your only power armor chest piece, it will scrap the power armor chest piece. even though it was asking if you wanted to scrap the shotgun. its potentially one of the most hostile interfaces ive ever seen. the bindings for ‘scrap mode’ and ‘scrap item’ in different menus also change. if i’m in the repair menu, G scraps an item. if i’m in scrap mode, spacebar does. the only good thing ive seen so far is the favorite wheel and also you can set it so you can see through your pip boy background while browsing it.

the world feels desolate and boring. the lack of human npc interaction has been replaced with finding some dead persons holotape. there are robots. there is at least one AI. but all the questgivers are pieces of paper, holotapes, or voices on a radio. sometimes it’s a robot. you don’t actually interact though. there’s no interaction beyond listening and being told what to do. while im bitching about how the world feels, lets talk about factions. bethesda has kind of casually hyped up factions as being some kind of meaningful, cool choice. they’re literally nothing. there is no indication to other players what faction you are in. you can join every faction and reach top rank in every faction. you cant see if anyone is a member of your faction unless theyre in your faction specific base. there is no inter-faction conflict, there are very few faction quests aside from random events, and once you’re done with the main faction quest, you’re basically done for good except for repeatable ones. i honestly expected factions to be a meaningful choice, which was probably my mistake. i was hoping it would force you to commit to your current faction once you joined it, or would prompt you to abandon another faction in order to join a new one. but there’s just nothing. i was expecting something like, i dunno, destinys faction thing. like joining new monarchy. and maybe butting heads with members of other factions, like i figured the Brotherhood faction would be my enemy if i joined the enclave. but it’s just nothing. the world is nothing, the quests are nothing, everything just feels pointless.

this is also a personal gripe, but there are like no energy weapon alternatives to small guns aside from the errant laser pistol, but ammo is extremely rare. the only new energy weapon i’ve seen so far is the plasma gatling, which is a big gun. otherwise, it’s just the crappy pistol/rifle converting laser and plasma rifle. no plasma pistol, just a pistol conversion. no laser pistol, just a pistol conversion. i’ve always loved energy weapons and just like. not getting any variety while guns and melee weapons get tons of variety is grating. there are many new ballistic weapons that look neat. the 10mm smg is back, and i am admittedly fond of it. however, 10mm ammo is painfully rare. i spend basically all my lead making more ammo for it. i can kind of get by with my laser pistol and my shotgun always makes up however much ammo i lose because a lot of enemies use shotguns, but my 10mm just goes up in smoke and there’s none to be found elsewhere. there’s a shocking amount of .308 because almost every early/mid enemy uses a hunting rifle, but i guess it makes sense because the big MG-32 thing takes .308 so they want you to be able to use it when the time comes. still, i’d rather be using an energy weapon. i want like. a recharger pistol. or the plasma rifle with all the tubes. or a pulse gun. just like. anything other than the ugly aer9 pistol conversion. i think the folks down at bethesda just dont like energy weapons very much; theyre leaps and bounds less viable than small guns.

the enemies look okay. instead of raiders, you have the Scorched. they’re Marked Men, but weaker and also a cult formed by radioactive bats. there are super mutants, because bethesda cant be bothered to go outside of the comfort zone of Things People Recognize and also they hate lore i guess. the wild animals are kind of fun. theres a big toad that looks cute, and frogs that have MASSIVE arms that they run on, which looks funny. theyre small though. things like the mothman and snallygaster look neat. the flatwoods monster is okay. the grafton bastard is big and kind of easy to cheese out. there is a monster named after a flawed and racist interpretation of indigenous beliefs. theres a big sloth, who i love. the mole men (called mole miners) are intimidating and ANNOYINGLY precise with shotguns. they’re later game enemies and very aggressive. they drop a neat looking unarmed weapon that ive been using, called a mole miner gauntlet. it’s like a power fist with big claws. there’s a big bee called a honeybeast. ive basically covered all of the new monsters, though. everything else is from fallout 4 and dlcs. this includes things like anglers, which had obviously evolved on far harbor along with the lure plant so it doesnt make sense for them to be there, and gulpers which are big salamanders so i guess that’s more okay. there are swarms of bees that are just he same repeated png of a bee, spinning around. oh yeah, there are a couple new insect types; ticks and fireflies. both use the animations of the radroach and bloatfly, respectively.

solo play can be kind of boring and difficult. most randos you meet will either ignore you or call you a slur and run away. ive only had one guy break into my house and i murdered him. however, even though he had a bounty on his head, he was still allowed to get ‘revenge’ on me which meant he could spawn right next to me and this time he had a power armor suit, so he killed me a couple times before logging out to avoid my wrath. coward. if you’re out there dude, i’ll kick your ass. also, quick note about the bounty system; its kinda rough around the edges. i tried to save someones garden by shooting a ghoul that was stomping their flowers in the back. however, my shot somehow curved around him at point blank and broke a blackberry bush. from then on, i had a 20 cap bounty on my head. i had to hide from people in my secret enclave bunker and get my friend to kill me so i could perceive other people on the map again and also not live in fear of every tom dick and larry with a power armor frame and a bad attitude.

i feel like i should wrap up. fallout 76 is not very good, but if they can work out performance and latency it wouldnt be too bad for just dicking around with friends. in terms of being like, a fallout game, it’s worse than 4. i haven’t gotten into story spoilers, but its not great. and it feels remarkably desolate for a game thats advertised as being a cool time with your buds. maybe itll be better when there are more people playing. i dunno. its just not very good. i dont recommend it.

#long post #fallout 76 #i just want a good post apocalyptic role playing game #is that too much to ask

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ladyloveandjustice · 7 years

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My top five (six) anime

So they asked on anime feminist what people’s favorite anime were. I KIND OF got carried away, why am i like this, might as well repost on here:

My top five are Sailor Moon, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Princess Tutu and Natsume's Book of Friends. Twelve Kingdoms used to occupy the fifth spot and it's still a favorite I just...love Natsume a lot.

Short pitches (w/ slight feminist perspective)

Sailor Moon: A crybaby girl turns into a superhero and finds friends and allies as she fights monsters. Classic magical girl anime, lots of fun, lots of strong friendships between women who are varied and complex characters, canon and well developed butch and femme lesbian couple, just massively important to anime in general and explicitly created to give regular girls heroes to empower them. Helped me realize I was queer! It's an early 90s anime though, so you'll run into some serious fatphobia, occasional homophobia, sexist comments, etc.

Fullemetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: Two brothers lose their bodies when they try to bring their mother back with alchemy and go on a journey to regain what they've lost. One of the most tightly plotted, emotional and well-told narratives I've seen period, alternately wildly funny and heartwrenching and grapples with heavy themes like loss, war, prejudice, grief, sin and redemption in an intelligent way. It's a very male-centered story in many ways, but there are several wonderful well-written female characters with robust character arcs and they're written in a respectful way that stands out among other shonen anime. Minimal fanservice as well.

Revolutionary Girl Utena: A girl who aims to be a prince one day gets involved in a strange game where students are dueling for possession of a girl called "the Rose Bride" in order to access a mysterious power. What can I say? It's a surreal feminist deconstruction of fairy tale/romance tropes centered a relationship between complex, well-developed queer women. It's amazing, affected me on a deep level, and helped me come to terms with my own queerness. There's a content warning for pretty much anything you can thing of, but for the most part it grapples with the subject matter well and tastefully (imo). Deals with stuff like victim blaming and abusive cycles in an interesting, effective way. Nothing's what it seems and there are endless layers to peel back. Also there are elephants on surfboards.

Princess Tutu: A duck turns into a magical girl in order to save a prince she's fallen in love with and help him restore his heart. Pretty much the best take on Swan Lake ever. Examines and overturns both fairy tale tropes and the nature of storytelling while developing wonderful characters and a slightly absurd, engaging world. Lots of arcs about women regaining agency. Fairly dark, but not in a needlessly edgy way. Lots of beautiful dancing, and seriously, the slow-burn character development is the best. You'll start out hating character and then by the end be surprised how much you love them. Stick with it,

Natsume's Book of Friends: A teenage boy with the power to see supernatural beings (yokai) inherits a strange book from his grandmother that gives him the power to enslave and command the yokai whose names are written in it. Instead, he decides to free them. To quote my rec post (http://ladyloveandjustice.t... ) Natsume is a beautiful anime about healing from trauma, growing as a person and connecting with those around you. I’ve heard it described as “like a warm hug” and I can’t think of anything more accurate. I often feel like it helps me heal from my own wounds. The main character is a total sweetheart, most of the characters are lovely and the beauty of the world the show takes place in is astounding. There’s tension and conflict a plenty, as well as complexity, but the show is really mostly about growth and love. There’s absolutely no gross fanservice or tropey, shady bullshit to be found here. This anime is heartfelt, gentle and emotional in the best way.

Also, the heavy thread throughout is a male character having a woman's legacy being an important part of his journey and identity as he finds out more about her and tries to understand her, which is just rare to see in fiction period. Lots of awesome ladies too.And cats!

And a quick bonus description of the Twelve Kingdoms: a submissive, insecure girl must learn what she's really made of when she's suddenly transported to another world and left to fend off demons by herself. Fantastic worldbuilding, some of the best character development I've ever seen (we see three girls who are major characters go through massive growth and change), has some criticism of sexism, deals with social issues as it explores the politics of the world- this is isekai done right. No fanservice or shady shit and just completely focused on women finding their power and agency.

#sailor moon #fullmetal alchemist #the twelve kingdoms #princess tutu #natsume's book of friends #natsume yuujinchou #juuni kokki #fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood #anime

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interkomitet · 4 years

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Egypt and Qatar agree to resume diplomatic ties, Cairo says

Egypt and Qatar have agreed to resume diplomatic relations, the Egyptian foreign ministry said on Wednesday, making Cairo the first to officially do so under an Arab deal to end a long-running dispute with Doha.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt agreed earlier this month to restore diplomatic, trade and travel ties severed in 2017 over allegations Qatar supported terrorism, a charge that Doha denies.

“The Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Qatar exchanged, today, January 20, 2021, two official memoranda, in virtue of which the two countries agreed to resume diplomatic relations,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

There was no immediate comment from Qatari officials.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said the kingdom expects to reopen its embassy in Qatar within days, and full diplomatic relations between the two would resume.

The UAE, which followed Riyadh in reopening all entry points to Qatar, has said restoring diplomatic ties will take time. Bahrain has reopened its air space to Qatar, as has Egypt.

The U.S.-backed accord to end the row was one of a series of Middle East deals by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration aimed at building a united front against Iran.

When the boycott was announced, Egypt and its allies called on Qatar to cut ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, among other demands. Doha said the embargo aimed to curtail its sovereignty.

The Islamist group was outlawed in Egypt after then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led the overthrow of the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi from the presidency in 2013, before being elected president himself the following year.

Much of the Muslim Brotherhood’s senior leadership was jailed in Egypt but other members took refuge abroad in Qatar or its regional ally Turkey.

Egypt and the UAE have also found themselves at odds with Turkey and Qatar in Libya, where they have backed opposing factions in a civil conflict.

A Qatari foreign ministry official pledged in a meeting with Egyptian and Emirati security officials on Saturday that Qatar would not interfere in Egypt’s internal affairs, two Egyptian intelligence sources told Reuters.

He also pledged a change of orientation for Qatar’s al-Jazeera television channel, which is state-funded, and state-owned media outlets towards Cairo, the sources said.

Qatar’s foreign minister had said in televised remarks after the Arab deal was announced that Al Jazeera is an independent media institution.

The Egyptian intelligence sources also said the officials agreed on economic cooperation and a series of meetings on outstanding issues such as Libya and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The officials agreed to restore diplomatic relations between Egypt and Qatar “under probation,” as one source put it.

http://interkomitet.com/press/international-news/egypt-and-qatar-agree-to-resume-diplomatic-ties-cairo-says/

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ash-trash · 4 years

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🌈 - 👊 - 🙅 - 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 for each of your active RP charr >:3c

(( SCREAMS ))

(( Going to format this one a bit differently - I’ll list all the questions at the top, and then just go through each character, using paragraph breaks to separate the questions. ))

🌈 What is their sexuality?

👊 Do they have a warband? What role do they play on it? Who are the other members of their warband?

🙅 Who do they consider their enemy(ies)?

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Who is their birth family? Who is their chosen family?

Alcmene Chillhorn: Alcmene is asexual, though she’s homoromantic. Unfortunately, it took her a little while to realize that and now she’s got a few bad memories/experiences floating around.

Alcmene is the Legionnaire (formerly second-in-command) of Chill Warband, a Blood Legion warband that patrols the Shiverpeaks. Aside from her Legionnaire duties, she’s a capable frontline soldier, medic-in-training, basic radio operator, tactician, and general mom-friend. Other members include the Centurion Vyneera Chillcleave, ((and several other members that I honestly don’t remember right now)) Kayla Chilltooth, Zelra Soulchill...

Alcmene’s primary enemies are the Icebrood and Sons of Svanir, though to a lesser extent the Dredge as well. She also still hates humans with a vengeance, though she doesn’t let that get in the way of her civility, as far as duty is concerned.

Alcmene was born to a dam and sire she never knew ((and I never developed)), and her fahrar Warband ((also undeveloped)) fell in the war against humanity. The ceasefire disbanded what was left, leading her to join up with her chosen family, Chill Warband.

Aspa Spiterune: Aspa is heterosexual, though she’s not really interested in pursuing that. She doesn’t like interacting with anyone that much.

Aspa is a member of the Spite Warband, an Iron ‘band based out of the Iron shipyards in Ashford. She’s primarily a welder, using her elemental powers to fuse metal quickly, cleanly, and with no tools but her own paws, though she’s a sturdy combatant in a pinch. ((I don’t know any other members besides Tea’s Spite-gal who heroically gave her life so that another character could be born, so x3;; ))

As far as enemies go, Aspa’s primary one would be, uh, bad workmanship? Separatists are the most common issue she deals with on a regular basis, though she’s the kind of gal to consider everyone her enemy.

Aspa was born to a yet-undeveloped dam and sire, and her fahrar warband happens to be her chosen family - Spite. Though, if she’d had the choice, she’d have been born Blood, and would be out there kicking human booty.

Bathea Sorrowhaunt: Bathea is bisexual, but is too terrified of Legion charr to ever do anything about it. She’s hoping to find a nice Archborn that knows nothing of Legion life, but work keeps getting in the way.

Bathea was once a member of an (unnamed) ((I’m noticing a trend...)) Blood Warband, before an ‘incident’ led her to leave the Legions and flee to the Arch, where she joined the Lionguard. Now, she’s a medic, though her size, bulk, and Blood training mean that she acts as bruiser when needed (as much as she hates doing so).

Her enemies are basically the everyday issues she deals with - drunkards, troublemakers, and rabblerousers, as well as a variety of injuries from all sorts of sources. As far as outside forces, she probably mostly hates hostile pirate groups or privateers, as well as general bandits and thieves, as they cause her the most trouble. She’s not too fond of those battle-drunk followers of Balthazar, either...

Her birth family would have been the former Warband. While she loved them to bits, she hated Legion life, and so the aforementioned ‘incident’ (in which her unfortunate warband met a cruel fate...) allowed her the opportunity to move on, and find her chosen family in the Lionguard.

Black Spiraldancer: Black is technically heterosexual, but way too distrustful and paranoid to ever engage with anyone on that level. Black (who, for the purposes of telling them apart, will now be referred to as “Blak”) is a lesbian, and although she’s less paranoid, her sister has enough of a stranglehold on her to keep her away from any entanglements.

Black and Blak have never had a warband, only ever each other. Black and Blak are merchants, peddling used/pre-owned goods for discount prices. Black tends to specialize more in acquiring merchandise, while Blak has the better personality for dealing with customers and closing the sale.

Black and Blak’s primary enemies are the Adamant Guard, pesky lot that stick their snouts where they don’t belong. Really, their enemy is “law enforcement” anywhere, or anyone else that might object to their goods being liberated to provide stock for the ‘Black market’.

Black and Blak’s birth and chosen family is simply each other. They’ve only ever had each other, and as far as they’re concerned, they only ever want each other. It’s just the two of them, against the world.

Crusader Sootwalker: Sootwalker is heterosexual, and as much as she’d love to pursue it more, there’s not a lot of potential partners that can keep up with her size.

Sootwalker is currently a member of the Soot Warband of the Vigil. She’s a bruiser, beater, battlemaiden, and all-around behemoth on the battlefield. Other skills include eating, more fighting, more eating, and sleeping. Other members include Sootpaws and Sootcrawler.

Sootwalker’s primary enemies are Kralkatorrik, the Shatterer, and all of the Dragonbrand/Branded.

Sootwalker’s birth family is an (undeveloped) Blood warband, though her chosen family is certainly the Vigil. She’s made many friends and battle-brothers in her time there, especially among her new Vigil Warband.

Domitus Shardspirit: Domitus is pansexual, and is pretty casual about what his partner has or doesn’t have.

Domitus is a member of the Shard Warband, acting in his role as scout, tracker, spiritualist, communer, and general hippy. Other members of the warband include Centurion Traikill Stormshard, Soho Moonshard, Legionnaire Grimm Shardheart, Firiann Fellshard, Karnelion Shardgrin, and too many more to name.

Domitus’ primary enemies would be whoever Shard’s up against at the moment, of course, though as far as personal vendettas, top of the list would likely be Charr industrialists and Asura, as well as Dredge. Dom has a deep dislike of the way these races meddle with nature.

While he was born in the Shiverpeaks and raised in an outpost fahrar as part of Glare Warband ((hah, finally one I have developed)), Dom’s chosen family is partly Shard Warband, and partly something more personal - his loyal fernhound, Foof, and the small commune of nature spirits that call him/his belongings home.

Fyra Shalespine: Fyra is pansexual and is always down to get down, though she much prefers being a guide and mentor rather than a participant.

Fyra is a member of the Shale warband, where she’s the majordomo of meditations, chief of chakras, and master of massagetherapy. She’s also a solid fighter when she puts her mind to it, and an experienced voice of reason. The only other member that I remember is Caligus Torqueshale.

Fyra’s primary enemies are triple: whatever Shale’s dealing with; Mordrem and other desert nonsense; bad vibes. She spends a lot of her non-Warband time working with others and sometimes, it’s a bit too draining.

I talked a bit about her birth family in a previous answer, but her chosen family is simple, yet elaborate: her warband, Shale; the Vigil; and anyone she happens to be sharing her time with, whether for a minute or a lifetime.

Einn Úlfursdottir: Einn’s bisexual, but with a male preference.(That said, she’s taken, so.)

Einn isn’t a charr, silly!

Einn’s enemies on a day-to-day basis tend to be icebrood and Sons of Svanir, which seems to have multiplied lately, though she also faces off against Dredge, Jotun, and just general critters and beasties of the Shiverpeaks.

Einn’s birth family is unknown, as she was found orphaned. However, her chosen family, at least for most of her life, was her adoptive parents, Maja and Úlfur. Now, without them, she’s searching for a new family to take their place as her ‘pack’.

Graf Towercleave: Graf is heterosexual, though at his age he’s kind of given up on that sort of thing.

Graf is a member of the Cleave Warband, where he functions as resident old man and occasional sword-swinger. Sometimes he tries to do magic. It almost always does not go well. Other members are currently Legionnaire Rrul Rivecleave, Dexious Fiercecleave, Lexus Frostcleave, and Fiana Spiritcleave.

Graf’s enemies are naturally the Dominion, though he bears a special hatred for the Sons of Svanir and Icebrood after what they did in Bjora. Ultimately, he hates all dragon minions.

Graf’s been through several families in his lifetime - from his fahrar warband Field, to his Vigil warband Thunder, to his current warband Cleave. He’s no stranger to battle-brotherhood, and takes his family bonds where he can. That said, he still maintains a lot of contacts within the Vigil, and thinks of many of them as family still.

Ink Voidbreath: Ink is asexual and doesn’t really have any interest in that sort of thing.

Ink is currently gladium, with no warband to speak of. Prior to that, they were ((Spoilers for Lunar story)) a member of Breath Warband, acting as assassin, general-purpose caster, voice of reason, scout, and occasional medic.

Ink’s enemies tend to be conflict in general - positioning themselves as the enemy of strife, they find that they have enemies in both sides of the Charr-Human conflict, in both sides of the Charr civil war, and now they’re not really sure where their allegiances lie.

Ink’s birth family was an (undeveloped) Ash warband, though after their grisly demise, Ink grew disillusioned. Even in their time with Breath, they never felt part of a “family”, so it’s hard to say that they’ve had a “chosen family” since their first warband.

Keele Rustsocket: Keele is bisexual with a strong female preference.

Keele is currently part of the Socket warband, a Pact mechanic warband where she serves as an airship mechanic and engineer. I’ve not created any other members for it.

Keele’s enemies are any sort of Dragon or Dragon Minion, though she admittedly has a personal hatred for any remaining Mordrem, after the events of the Pact Fleet in the Maguuma Expedition...

Although Keele left behind her “birth family” to join the Pact, she maintains regular contact with them and they all get together for drinks whenever possible. That said, she gets along quite well with her new family, Socket, as well as her many friends and “coworkers” amongst the Pact. She’s even made quite a few friends in the BLTC, during her time in the Aerodrome!

Kreyn Fluxlift: Kreyn is a lesbian, though she is absolutely too dense to know when anyone’s hitting on her.

Kreyn is currently part of the Flux warband, where she serves as an engineer and designer, specializing in lifting bodies and aerodynamics. Other members include Legionnaire Grarr Fluxforge and a few others whose names I don’t remember.

Kreyn’s enemies include long sentences and complicated words, as well as other unscrupulous inventors who might be trying to steal her ideas. Other than that, aside from a general dislike of ghosts and humans, she’s relatively insulated from any real enemies.

Originally part of Bolt Warband, many of Kreyn’s initial ‘bandmates were killed or injured in a horrific accident. Following that, she moved into Flux Warband, where she is now. She’s quite happy with her new family, and although she checks on her former ‘bandmates occasionally, she has trouble remembering to on a regular basis.

Kurra Fogshroud: Kurra is absolutely a lesbian.

Kurra is part of Fog Warband, stationed in eastern Ashford, where she serves primarily as a sniper, though she occasionally doubles as a master of disguise.

Kurra’s enemies are primarily ogres, with whom she’s engaged in a daily battle. She also has to contend with ghosts, devourers, bats, gargoyles, and all sorts of other annoying beasties, but absolutely her biggest beef is with the ogres.

Kurra’s lucky in that her birth and chosen families are one and the same: Fog Warband! So far, aside from one or two unfortunate deaths, Fog’s been the same from fahrar to present day.

Kyrdra Sparkdawn: Kyrdra is polysexual, mostly preferring anyone that she can top.

Kyrdra is currently a part of Spark Warband, of Iron Legion, a bottom-of-the-barrel scrapper Warband that’s effectively a punishment assignment. She’s a scrapper in name and trade, using her brute strength to bust apart even the most resilient of wreckage. Other members include Legionnaire Sparkspring, and the now-deceased Sparkjaw and Sparkwire.

Kyrdra’s enemy is basically the whole world - it certainly seems like it’s out to get her! That said, her biggest beef is with Flame - partly because they’re what ruined her life in the first place, and partly because they keep making trouble while she’s just trying to scrap wreckage. She’s also not very fond of Forged (and those damn Choya....)

Although Spark isn’t her first warband, she hates her original ‘bandmates and would hunt them down if afforded the time. Even so, she doesn’t get on well with Spark, and often clashes with the Legionnaire, Sparkspring. She’d never let herself admit to liking any of them, though she does (in private!) mourn the loss of some, such as Sparkwire or Sparkjaw.

Lad Duskpillager: Lad is very gay and prefers fellow nasty bois.

Lad is part of the rough-and-tumble Pillager Warband, where he fills in as part-time bruiser, part-time mad scientist, part-time experimenter, and full-time horrible creature. Other members include Cur Blitzpillager, and their Legionnaire.

Lad’s enemies are far too many to count, including the Adamant Guard, his fellow ‘bandmates, capitalism, and just about everything. His biggest struggles are mostly with the law (especially the Adamant Guard and the Peacekeepers) and with his fellow ‘bandmates (who, strangely enough, don’t enjoy being experimented upon!)

Lad doesn’t really have a chosen family - his initial Warband was devastated, and since then he’s simply been looking for a way to continue his work. That said, Pillager is currently home, so they count! He doesn’t hate them, at least, and sometimes they get up to some really fun mischief.

Morak Stillwater: Morak is heterosexual, though he’s mostly a hormone-crazed youngster and would probably bone just about anything.

Morak doesn’t have a warband, instead being part of a pirate crew. He serves as navigator, first mate, occasional fisher-charr, and by virtue of being the only one with a beast, the beastmaster.

Morak has a few enemies, though his biggest is probably the man, man. He’s a rebellious youth who resents Lion’s Arch and its leadership for what it did to his family, and although he’s mostly struggling to get by, all his spare energy is definitely put towards sticking it to the power.

An Arch charr by birth, Morak’s family was taken from him by Scarlet’s invasion. Although they’re less a family and more just a bunch of unfortunates thrown together by circumstance, his current “chosen” family is his crew, under the leadership of Captain Yeens.

Naphtha Seizetar: Naphtha is what I’d call demisexual, though she tends to have more of a female preference.

Naphtha is currently a member of Seize Warband, working as a researcher, where she’s developing ways to convert organic biomass into post-processed hydrocarbons (AKA turning corpses into fuel). Other members include her Legionnaire, Kharra Seizespark, and Nenqe Seizebabe Seizeshield.

Naphtha, as an Iron researched, fortunately doesn’t have many enemies, though already in her time with Seize she’s developed a dislike for rock elementals, separatists, spiders, grawl, dredge, and Inquest. Her biggest challenge is probably Clonky... that bastard.

Originally Naphtha Rotplate of Plate Warband, after an industrial accident, she’s eagerly signed on to Seize Warband (though a little less eager after meeting the Legionnaire), making the trio her chosen family, although she shows a disturbing level of anthropomorphism towards her “rot vats”....

Olmakhan Firedancer: The unnamed Firedancer is bisexual, and although he has a female preference as far as romance/company goes, his sexual attraction is stronger for other men.

He’s not currently a member of any warband, instead being part of the Olmakhan, a tribal society of Charr living in a small cluster of islands off the coast of Elona.

The Olmakhan unfortunately have more than their fair share of enemies, between Awakened/Palawan loyalists, the Inquest, dangerous beasties, Djinn... any one of these is a weight upon his conscience, though all of them together pushes the Olmakhan to the fringes of survival.

Living his relatively sheltered island life, the boy’s birth family happens to be his chosen family, his Olmakhan friends and fellow villagers. Recently, however, he’s taken to traveling the newly rediscovered world, and is starting to pick up new friends along the way, though the amount of letters he’s sending home would make a Sylvari blush.

Rakk Smokewraith: Nasty bastard boy. Rakk is pansexual and will bone down on anything that moves. Evil wicked man.

Rakk is a member of the Smoke Warband in truth, where he acts as a spy and infiltrator, searching for Renegades, Flame, Dominion, and anyone else that Ash Legion has determined to be a Charr of interest. However, part of that is his cover identity as Rakk Blackpowder, of Powder Warband, where he’s an Iron engineer, using his small size to squeeze into narrow tank compartments.

Rakk’s enemies are the Legion’s enemies: Old Flame, Dominion, Frost Legion, Renegades, and just general traitors and criminals. Any Charr that goes against the Legions becomes part of his growing list of enemies.

Despite still being a part of his fahrar Warband, their assignment(s) means that they don’t interact much, if at all, now that they’ve graduated. So while he’s still a part of his birth family, so to speak, Rakk’s chosen family is certainly much more important to him. Unfortunately, that’s still not much, because it’s composed primarily of barkeeps, informants, and various Charr offering questionable services.

Ruya Starchaser: Ruya has no idea what she likes, and certainly not much interest (or time!) to pursue anything, though inside, she’d find that she’s pretty evenly bisexual.

Ruya's abandoned any sort of Warband life, and now is part of the Priory instead, as described in a previous post.

Despite being a huge nerd who just wants to look at the stars, Ruya has to deal with a number of desert annoyances - Palawan loyalists and leftover Awakened are the biggest threats, though the occasional Iboga or remnant Branded continue to be issues as well.

Ruya has no regrets about leaving her ‘birth family’ behind, quite content among her ‘chosen family’ in the Priory. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for her), that chosen family tends to be about 70% books, 28% telescopes, and only 2% or so other people, usually when she’s giving a lecture...

Rylka Miststone: Rylka is pretty solidly heterosexual.

Rylka’s a member of Mist Warband, a relatively new warband composed of revenants, intended to be the Legions’ test-group for these new abilities, given how un-cooperative Tribune Brimstone has been in sharing details.

Rylka’s got plenty of enemies on her plate. Separatists, Old Flame, Dominion, Frost Legion, leftover Branded, Ghosts... anything that threatens the Charr is a threat to her, almost on the level of personal affront.

Rylka’s life goal is to get close to (and emulate) Rytlock Brimstone, and so her ideal chosen family would of course be Rytlock himself. Failing that, she’s at least surrounded herself with fellow loyal-minded Charr, though she isn’t particularly close to any of them.

Sela Lunarstep: Sela’s somewhat bisexual, though she’s almost exclusively male-preferring.

Sela’s the Legionnaire of Lunar Warband, where her skills include espionage, sabotage, assassination, direct combat... anything that Ash needs doing. Her loyal soldiers include Grus Lunarspark, Malin Lunarstone, Xyx Blacklunar/Corax Lunarcaller, and many others.

Sela’s enemies are plenty, as well as her personal grudges. Ultimately, her enemies are whoever the Legion pits her against. That said, she has a particular hatred for traitors, especially Renegades, and a bit of personal beef against ghosts.

Although Lunar Warband is technically Sela’s birth family, almost their entire number has been whittled down over the years, leaving only Sela and Grus as the two remaining original members. The rest of Lunar, despite coming later, is absolutely Sela’s chosen family - they’re hers, her soldiers, and she’s happy and proud to be her Legionnaire; she’d do anything for them!

Sentinel Glassblade: Sentinel Glassblade is absolutely not bone-able. Very forbidden. Do not. (Strictly speaking, her mind is too twisted and warped to really think in that sort of vein anymore, and her body doesn’t respond much either. Once upon a time, she was quite heterosexual.)

Once a feared Ash Legion Centurion, now she’s little more than an outcast Sentinel, though she’s found a place in the Glass Warband, among other members like Glasscutter and Glassedge. Despite the deterioration of her mind, she retains a bevy of skills including tracking, combat, and interrogation (although the latter isn’t very useful against Branded...)

Glassblade’s enemies are, primarily, what remains of the Brand, and the Branded that inhabit it. As a Sentinel, she’s doomed to wander the Brand and work to contain its horrors for the rest of her life. Though somewhere inside, she definitely harbors a grudge against the treacherous soldier that landed her in this position...

Born to a rather well-known dam, Glassblade quickly rose through the ranks of her “birth family”, becoming a Centurion at a young age, though that’s all behind her now. She certainly didn’t choose the Sentinel life, and even among her new warband, she keeps herself distant and elusive. The closest she has to a chosen family is her devourer, Grendel, which has (for some reason) stayed by her side for years now.

Skara Weldblast: Skara is polysexual with a mild preference for the ladies (and a strong exhibitionist streak).

Skara’s a member of the Weld Warband, where she works as an engineer. She’s currently researching metallurgy and explosion-based welding techniques, looking to reuse old munitions and materiel to create new alloys. She works under Legionnaire Rallus Weldcog.

Skara doesn’t have much in the way of enemies, besides empty kegs and boredom. Still, she’s not immune to the troubles of the Charr as a whole, and definitely bears hatred for ghosts, separatists, and all the other troubles plaguing Charrkind, especially the Dominion of late.

Skara can find a “family” just about anywhere - after a long night of drinking and partying, just about anyone nearby is a member of the family! She’s certainly not picky, and although she loves her warband to bits, she’s pretty generous with her caring nature.

Wassail Ciderpride: The boy is pretty evenly bisexual!

Not technically a Warband, though the Cider brothers do call themselves “Cider Warband” from time to time! It’s Wassail and his brother Wurzel Cidersnout, with Wassail in charge of water supply and some of the more inventive drinks, such as Zapple.

As every brewer knows, Wassail’s biggest enemies are poor sanitation, bad water quality, and mold. Aside from those, the worst that the Brothers have to deal with is the occasional issue on their way to a market - bandits, at worst, which isn’t so bad. The Boys have it easy.

Wassail’s pretty happy with his family as they are - he’s got a successful and fun business/career with his brother and father and they have lots of great times and fun memories.

#long post #thank!#quality just drops like a rock halfway oops #will edit later

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linchan637 · 7 years

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Homo-eroticism in Lost Love

Something that really just bugs me when it comes to dramaland is its use of homoerotic imagery and homosexual themes, but none of the guts to really follow through. There are several dramas that deal with homosexual issues (Personal Taste, Coffee Prince, and Sungkyunkwan Scandal come to mind) but homosexuality itself is always played with, never really dealt with. It’s the same in Lost Love, and I wish it weren’t.

Spoilers ahead, and it’s a rather lengthy post.

Yuan Ling and Yuan Che

There are a lot of princes in this drama, so it’s no surprise that they would form alliances and be joined at the hip. There’s a sense of brotherhood between them, but it also goes into homosexual, incestuous territory at times, and I wish that it really didn’t because it doesn’t do the show any good nor does it do anything for the story. Take Ling and Che, our first brothers-almost-lovers pairing.

There is a key moment when Princess Duo Xia comes to Ling’s manor and sees Che there. When Che mentions that Ling’s not there, Duo Xia says she’ll wait, then looks Che up and down as if assessing a potential rival. She moves closer to him and asks why Ling is single.

DX: Could it be that he has unspeakable reasons or some unmentionable disease? Or is it because of someone else that he has to marry late?

Che: It isn’t because of me that 4th Brother is single!

There’s a lot of homoerotic subtext in Duo Xia’s question, and the fact that Che tries to dissuade her is telling. It’s not hard to understand why Duo Xia would think there’s something else going on between the two brothers given that 1) they’re very close, having been through many battles and often shown together; 2) Che is almost always at Ling’s manor (I don’t know if he has his own place, but surely he has his own family he can be with) and it’s not a coincidence that he’s the one who greets her, much like a stay-at-home wife; and 3) Che shows little interest in much else other than Ling. (We know that he has his own love interest, but Duo Xia does not know that yet.) Duo Xia has always been shown to be observant and perceptive, so it’s not out of character for her to ask what’s really going on and try to get to the bottom of things. She is, after all, trying to marry Ling. That’s not really what’s problematic here.

What is is the humorous music underlying the whole interaction. Accusing someone of being a homosexual isn’t funny, nor should it be treated as such. That’s just exploiting a real issue in the LGBT community faces for some bad humor. Lost Love isn’t the first to do this, but I am disappointed because it could do so much better.

Yuan Ming and Yuan Ji

Where Ling’s and Che’s interactions aren’t explicitly homoerotic, Ming’s and Ji’s are. I think you could make a bigger argument that Ji loves Ming more than you could for Che loving Ling. There are also several factors that make this couple interesting, while still problematic in its execution.

There’s a lot more overtly gendered characteristics between the two. Ji is shown to be quiet and meek, almost like a princess rather than a prince. He is berated by the Emperor for being such, and even calls those traits “shortcomings.” There is a bias going on there that’s not really seen anywhere else in the show (for example, no one criticizes Duo Xia for being strong-willed and powerful even though she’s a princess), which only goes to feminize Ji. In a few flashback scenes, we see Ji caring for Ming as a wife might. He fixes Ming’s clothes before they go to a court session and he uses his sleeve to clean up blood from Ming’s hand. It’s no surprise that when Ji dies, Ming carries him bridal style out before his brothers. But Ji isn’t the only one to play a “female” part in their relationship.

Whereas Ji’s effeminate-ness is implicit, Ming’s is explicit. He’s shown to have cross-dressed and can even puts on a female mask as a disguise. We find out he did this to help Ji several times before. The first being when they were young and Ji had lost his mother, Ming disguises himself to get the Emperor to visit Ji’s mother’s grave. The second being when Ji had to kneel in the rain after displeasing the Emperor, Ming came to him as a maid and put an umbrella over him. Ming is literally turning himself into a woman to help Ji, and Ji in turn dotes on Ming as a female lover might.

It’s an interesting dynamic that I wish the show had more guts to follow through. There could’ve been so many more layers to their relationship, and on the show’s take on gender and sexuality overall. However, by having the two be brothers, the show cops out of having any real discussion on the issue or allowing the characters to have any further development. It seems like the show just put the homoerotic scenes there for the homophiles in the audience. It’s the same as with Ling and Che–the homosexual relationship is implied but only for entertainment value rather than for character depth.

Yuan Li and Ming Yan

Perhaps the worst (and most disappointing) of these homoerotic relationships is that of Yuan Li and Ming Yan. A common trope in dramaland is a man falling love with another “man,” who is really a woman in disguise. Ming Yan is one of the Mages but enters the palace disguised as a man and meets Li, the 12th prince. They don’t get along at first, but slowly Li falls for her, all the while not knowing she’s a woman and becoming conflicted because of his feelings. Li even goes so far as to ask Che for advice, and Che seems to give Li his blessing on the relationship. In the end, Li finds out that Ming Yan is not a man through accidentally walking in on her bathing.

I don’t like that in these situations the only way the man finds out about his lover’s identity is through seeing her naked body. It objectifies the woman, stripping her worth down to her body and gender. It robs her of agency, as her privacy is never treated as a serious issue and is instead allowed to be violated so that the man’s heterosexuality can be confirmed. There are better ways to discover a character’s true identity that can actually affect the character’s relationship and better the story.

What gets me is how, after the man’s heterosexuality is affirmed, character development basically comes to a standstill. The status quo is brought back, and our characters don’t learn or question anything beyond it. Li doesn’t question his sexuality after this, not wondering if he really is attracted to men or what would’ve happened if Ming Yan was actually a man. There are no more layers or conflicts to his relationship to Ming Yan, even though there absolutely should be.

And I think that’s the reason why this relationship was the most disappointing. There was so much more the show could’ve done to make this couple interesting. It could’ve been a more realistic, homosexual relationship rife with internal and external conflict. Instead, it’s a generic mistaken-gender-swap story that’s been done so many times before.

Why am I rambling about this? Why does this matter?

In my previous post, I talked about why I love Lost Love. It’s got an interesting premise, it’s well-paced, and it looks stunning. But I really love it because its core characters are intelligent, proactive, and show an awareness of their situation that makes them more than just pretty faces. I really adore the way women are treated as equal to men in this show, saving their own butts and coming up with their own plans to forward their own agendas. Everyone is given a level of agency over their own development, and that’s honestly so refreshing in a genre that’s teeming with stupid, doormat flat characters.

So, it’s really disappointing when characters are robbed of that chance. Che doesn’t develop beyond being a loyal brother. Ji dies before we can get anything else out of him. Li’s feelings for Ming Yan are not expounded upon any further, as of this posting anyway. For once, I want to see a historical romance drama deal with the real issues of having a man love a man and not shy away from it or use it for just entertainment.

I’m not saying that every drama needs to deal with homosexuality or LGBT issues, but I am saying that I’m sick of dramas that can deal with it in a mature, realistic way not do so. Everything else about Lost Love is so much better than the other shows I’ve seen, so it’s disheartening when it fails to show or comment on homosexuality and even goes so far as to treat it as a joke.

I’m still going to watch the rest of the show (as of this posting, only 38 out of its total 56 episodes have been streamed on DramaFever) and hope that it does have some guts to actually address these issues.

#lost love in times #醉玲珑 #醉玲瓏 #cdrama #homosexuality #long rant

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